Kering Commits to New Science-based Biodiversity, Nature Targets

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PARIS — Kering has a new standard for its sustainability goals. The Balenciaga and Gucci parent company has adopted the Science Based Targets Network’s goals for both fresh water and land.

The luxury conglomerate is among the first three companies and the only one in fashion to adopt the new standards, introduced by the Global Commons Alliance, which describes itself as a growing coalition of scientists, philanthropists, civil society groups, businesses and innovators.

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This follows a yearlong pilot program to address nature loss within the ecosystems where the companies and their suppliers operate.

It will apply to its direct operations, including Kering-owned tanneries and factories, as well as upstream suppliers, with an initial focus on the Arno basin in Tuscany, where most of the group’s tanneries and supplier tanneries are located. Kering has set a target of reducing freshwater use by 21 percent by 2030, and will set similar targets for other basin sites in the coming months.

The new targets will also aim to reduce the luxury group’s land footprint and to engage in landscape initiatives to mitigate nature loss across its value chain. It aims to reduce its land footprint by 3 percent by 2030 from its 2022 use, and to improve ecological and social conditions through regenerative agriculture across sourcing landscapes of 1.7 million acres.

The company has committed to having 100 percent of its leather sourced from land not converted from a natural ecosystem or deforested for the grazing of cows, which will apply to European leather by 2025 and global sourcing by 2030.

Kering plans to continue its use of certifications for its sourcing downstream of key commodities such as wood and rubber, and to continue its efforts to promote regenerative agriculture practices in its supply chain.

“Setting and adopting science-based targets for nature was the next necessary step to complement and enhance Kering’s longstanding efforts to protect and restore biodiversity,” said Kering chief sustainability officer Marie-Claire Daveu.

“Land and water are critically interlinked and we are proud to be the first company in the fashion industry, and across all sectors globally, to adopt both land and fresh water science-based targets for nature. Systemic transformation is absolutely essential — reducing and restoring fresh water and land impacts according to SBTN’s comprehensive methodology ensures standardization, which will help catalyze the way forward for the world’s business community,” she said.