Kering Pledges Full Carbon Neutrality Across Entire Supply Chain

Fashion behemoth Kering has today announced that it is committing to becoming carbon neutral across its entire company and supply chain.

François-Henri Pinault, Kering’s CEO and chairman, said in an official release, “When it comes to climate change, we can no longer wait to take real action. We all need to step up as businesses and account for the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions that we generate in total. While we focus on avoiding and reducing our GHG emissions to meet our Science-Based Target, we will offset all our remaining emissions and support the conservation of vital forests and biodiversity around the world.”

The Science-Based Target was set in 2015 and sees Kering promising to reduce the GHG emissions from its supply chain and operations by 50% by the year 2025. This will continue to be achieved through renewable energy conversion, manufacturing efficiencies and processes, innovation programs, and the Fashion Pact. The Fashion Pact was introduced at this year’s G7 Summit by Kering to help encourage fashion houses to rethink the way they produce clothing. It was signed by 32 companies.

Furthermore, Kering announced that it will offset its 2018 emissions by investing in projects that support forest conservation, biodiversity and community preservation. According to the release, “the 2018 offsets will equal nearly two million hectares of important forests around the world.”

The major announcement sees Kering follow in the footsteps of Gucci (which is owned by the luxury conglomerate) who earlier this month pledged full carbon neutrality, outlining several ways in which they will achieve their end goal. Plus, the brand’s S/S20 show at Milan Fashion Week was certified carbon neutral for the first time. According to WWD, 2000 trees will be planted in Milan as a result and Marco Bizzarri, CEO and chairman of Gucci, also revealed that all materials used in the staging of the show were returned to the suppliers to be recycled.