SBTN Pilot: Kering
Company:
Kering
Kering is one of 17 companies that submitted science-based targets for nature – for both freshwater and land – as part of a pilot which took place from May 2023 to June 2024. This case study is part of a series about the findings from those validation pilot companies.
>>View the full pilot summary report
“If you’re not talking about systemic transformation or collaborative transformation for our industry, it’s very hard to reach your own ambitions as a single company. We think there’s so much promise and huge value in these methods to scale nature protection and restoration.”
Context and motivation
Kering is a global luxury group that manages the development of a collection of renowned Houses in Fashion, Leather Goods and Jewelry, crafting tomorrow’s luxury in a sustainable and responsible way. Aligned with its long-time commitment to sustainability and environmental stewardship, Kering has been an active member of the Science Based Targets Network (SBTN) Corporate Engagement Programme since its inception in 2020.
Kering’s involvement with SBTN also aligns with its Biodiversity Strategy, which Kering launched in 2020 with the aim of achieving a net positive impact on biodiversity by 2025. Participating in SBTN’s pilot was a natural progression in Kering’s journey. This step allowed the Group to deepen its engagement with SBTN, adopt the methods fully, and support the development of SBTN’s target validation process.
Actions taken
For the SBTN pilot, Kering leveraged its in-house environmental impact assessment tool, the Environmental Profit and Loss account (EP&L), to assess upstream pressures on nature, contextualizing them with pressure-sensitive state of nature data (e.g., “water scarcity” for the “water use” pressure) and state of biodiversity data to prioritize locations for target setting.
This data foundation enabled Kering to align with SBTN’s scientific criteria and effectively identify priority locations for targets and actions. State of nature data was sourced from publicly available sources including SBTN’s unified water risk assessment tool as well as various indicators from WWF’s Biodiversity Risk Filter.
Findings
Through the pilot, Kering has determined its first SBTN Freshwater targets, focusing initially on the Arno basin in Tuscany, where most of the Group’s tanneries and supplier tanneries are located.
These activities have significant potential to impact water withdrawals and quality. In alignment with SBTN’s guidance, Kering’s target is to reduce water use in this top-priority basin by 21% by 2030, scientifically based on the state of nature data (according to SBTN’s Global Model), a reduction which goes beyond the Group’s own withdrawals to include those of its suppliers. This target applies to both the Group’s direct operations and its suppliers, enhancing Kering’s collaborative efforts to reduce environmental impact. Kering is preparing to set similar targets for other material basins, as part of its strengthened water strategy which will be unveiled in the coming months.
In the pilot, Kering has worked towards the adoption of all 3 categories of targets covered in SBTN’s Land methods:
- No Conversion of Natural Ecosystems: SBTN has provided an opportunity to strengthen Kering’s existing Deforestation- and Conversion-Free commitments, which had been last updated in June 2023, notably to include more detailed land use change assessments associated with the Group’s sourcing of leather.
- Land Footprint Reduction: To achieve the Group’s land footprint reduction target of 3% by 2030, which goes beyond SBTN’s requirements (0.35% per year), Kering will continue to increase the use of recycled materials, regenerative agriculture materials, and sustainable innovative materials. Kering has also been leveraging improved forecasting and inventory management, while scaling circular business models overall, to achieve a general reduction across all pressures on nature (including greenhouse gas emissions) through lower resource use.
- Landscape Engagement: Kering’ landscape engagement targets aim to substantially improve ecological and social conditions in sourcing landscapes by 2030. Kering has leveraged its existing initiatives such as those in the Regenerative Fund for Nature, developed in collaboration with Conservation International, which the Group has been supporting since 2021. These initiatives focus on promoting regenerative practices and enhancing biodiversity in critical sourcing regions under the Group’s biodiversity strategy targets. Landscape engagement targets validated by SBTN are the Good Growth Company’s Mongolia Regenerative Cashmere Project (342,000 ha), Olive Leaf’s GRASS project, focused on sheep wool and leather in South Africa (300,000 ha), as well as the Organic Cotton Accelerator’s Regenerative Cotton Project (53,500 ha) in India.
Challenges
Setting freshwater quality targets has presented challenges due to SBTN’s current focus on nitrogen and phosphorus pollution alone, coupled with limited water basin level data on nutrient pollution.1
Kering is actively exploring ways to enhance data availability and is continuing its water pollution reduction efforts, which already include other relevant pollutants beyond nutrients, notably through the Group’s collaboration with the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals initiative and adherence to its standards.
Traceability is one of the fashion sector’s main challenges and, similarly, one of the main challenges Kering faced in its SBTN journey was data collection across its long, complex, and diverse global supply chains. These supply chains also involve numerous artisanal suppliers and small-scale operations, with many tiers of suppliers separating Kering’s Houses from raw material producers. This opacity is further enhanced by suppliers in fashion’s supply chain traditionally not sharing information on raw material producers. This complexity and issues of visibility underscore the importance of the traceability efforts Kering has been dedicated to over the past fifteen years. It also highlights the need to accelerate this journey, further enhancing the Group’s supplier engagement and traceability programs.
1. Future versions of the SBTN methodology will have expanded coverage of pollutants.
Benefits of process and next steps
Participating in the SBTN pilot has been rewarding for Kering. The substantial work Kering dedicated to the pilot enhances the Group’s Biodiversity Strategy and enables the setting of ambitious, science-based targets. SBTN’s focus on localized impacts and targets has encouraged Kering to think more about place-based measures and strategies, which will now feature more prominently in its strategies going forward. By leveraging Kering’s existing EP&L data and improving traceability, the Group continues to make significant steps forward in its nature positive journey. Kering looks forward to continuing its journey with SBTN and contributing to a sustainable future for the luxury sector and for the fashion industry more broadly.
Information for this case study has been provided by the company and supplemented with content from the WWF (2024) report “Integrating Companies Within Planetary Boundaries: Feedback from the first companies to set Science Based Targets for Nature (SBTN)”.
>> View the full pilot summary report
>> Learn more about setting science-based targets for nature
