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Allbirds Director of Sustainability Aileen Lerch has left the San Francisco-based footwear company to become net-zero program manager at Meta.
Lerch exited Allbirds in June, according to a short LinkedIn update she posted recently announcing her new position. Meta declined to comment, citing a policy not to discuss personnel moves.
Allbirds has not hired a new sustainability head yet. It is evaluating leadership needs for this function, the company said through a spokeswoman.
“Sustainability is not a standalone function, but an integral part of every role at Allbirds — from product designers, to material experts, to marketing,” she said.
Lerch, who reported to Allbirds CEO Joe Vernachio, was responsible for strategy, reporting and developing partnerships to advance its decarbonization agenda. She was hired in January 2020 to develop the company’s rigorous life-cycle assessment methodology, which Allbirds publishes for others to borrow.
Allbirds uses a software management tool called Carbonfact to closely measure the potential impact of materials substitutions and other decisions. “Why do we even measure these carbon footprints?” Lerch said during the May 2024 episode of the Climate Pioneers interview series. “The key reason is so that we can understand hotspot areas and actions that we can take to make change.”
The company is pushing to reduce the average footprint for its shoes to 5.5 kilograms per pair by the end of 2025. The industry average is 14 kilograms. In February, it shipped a limited production run of Moonshot, which Allbirds describes as the first “net-zero carbon shoe.”
Allbirds prioritizes the use of natural materials, such as wool from sheep raised on farms that use regenerative agricultural practices, or bioplastics made from captured methane. These factors aren’t generally selling points for the company’s footwear, but they are part of its mission despite a struggle to grow revenue since going public in November 2021. Sales slipped 25.4 percent in 2024 to $189.9 million.
