Sustainability 11/08

Acting on Climate Change

To reinforce our contribution to the objectives defined by the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement to limit the average global warming to 1.5 °C, Louis Vuitton is committed to reducing our direct carbon footprint by 55% by 2030. This concerns both the energy consumption of our own sites as well as those generated by our supply chain and the entirety of our indirect activites such as services, transport, employee trips, waste. A trajectory for reducing our greenhouse gas emissions has been reviewed and approved by the Science Based Targets (SBTi) initiative.

Our commitments

100% renewable energy in our production & logistics sites by 2025

100% led lighting in our stores by 2025

Tracking our Carbon Footprint:

is the year that our Maison pioneered the measuring of our annual carbon footprint using a standardised method (Bilan Carbone^®) in order to account for the greenhouse gas emissions caused by all our activities around the world. As a result, reducing our carbon footprint has become one of the cornerstones of our strategy to improve our environmental performance.

We take responsibility for our entire carbon footprint as defined as: worldwide, all activities, scopes 1-2-3. Based on our findings, we have identified that the main contributions of greenhouse gases come from three sources: raw materials, energy, and transport. We have chosen to focus our efforts on reducing emissions caused by our buildings and equipments and through transportation, given that these account for almost half of our total emissions. We address the emissions generated from raw materials through our responsible sourcing actions (see above).

Improving Energy Efficiency

LVMH Carbon Fund

different projects have been financed since the launch of the LVMH Carbon Fund in 2016 based on the idea that putting a monetary value on our greenhouse gas emissions will incentivise all to take more responsibility in reducing gas emissions. These actions have already enabled us to reduce greenhouse gases emissions from energy consumption by 13% between 2019 and 2021 (on a comparable basis), on the way to our target objective of 55% as part of our reduction trajectory by 2030.

Stores

of our stores around the world are fully equipped with LED lighting, which includes store windows and façades. Lighting is one of the most energy-consuming store elements, but it is also one of the most adjustable: by switching to LED lighting for each of our new and renovated stores, since 2013, we have been able to decrease our total energy consumption due to lighting by -30%. We are also developing renewable energy projects adapted to each location, allowing our buildings to meet 30% to 100% of their annual energy needs for air conditioning and heating (as in our Florence and Paris Vendôme stores, for example).

Warehouses & workshops

of energy is reduced at the L’Oratoire, a bioclimatic workshop in France, thanks to the optimization of natural light, temperature regulation thanks to a centrally integrated meteorological station, and sensors that activate vents located on the facades. Additionally, our reduction efforts related to the manufacturing process of our products has enabled us to reduce our energy consumption by 26% per unit produced at the L’Oratoire.

Green IT

marks the launch year of Green IT, our proactive program to understand, measure and reduce our emissions associated with digital technologies such as hardware waste and data center or computer energy consumption. Following the evaluation of our carbon footprint, three key levers have been identified: reducing the energy consumption of our IT equipment, choosing service providers with ambitious decarbonization targets for their data centers, and extending the lifetime of our equipment. As a digital pioneer for the luxury industry, Louis Vuitton is prioritizing these efforts for the coming years.

Renewable energies

of the energy that Louis Vuitton workshops and warehouses consumed in 2020 came from renewable sources. Multiple renewable energy projects have been put in place by deploying a variety of technologies depending on the site: cooling and heating by geothermic air, photovoltaic roofs, or even natural air-conditioning. At the Maison’s workshop in L'Oratoire (France), 2000 square meters of photovoltaic panels have been installed, covering a large part of the annual energy needs.

Green Architecture

Since 2007, our approach to a sustainable architecture concept has been one of continuous improvement, targeting the most demanding environmental certifications in the world since 2007 such as HQE^TM (High-Quality Environmental), LEED^® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), and BREEAM^® (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method). Always searching for the latest innovations, our efforts have allowed us to build a workshop based on bioclimatic principles (L'Oratoire in France), Louis Vuitton’s first industrial building of its kind in the world.

In addition to our sustainable architecture projects, all Louis Vuitton sites are under an ISO 14001 certification process, a standard that guarantees the environmental management system of our activities with a continuous drive for improvement. As of 2020, 71% of our sites have been certified ISO 14001.

In the Beaulieu workshop (France), natural sources of light were optimised throughout the building, earning the site a BREEAM^® "Very Good" certification in 2019.

The Marsaz workshop (France) benefits from natural insulation through a green roof and heat pumps, earning it the HQE^TM label in 2011).

The EOLE warehouse (France) employs a system where wastewater is biologically purified through planted filtering basins of purifying aquatic plants, while rainwater is collected for landscaping irrigation.

Renewable energy in the San Dimas workshop (USA, LEED^® "Gold" 2020) equipped with solar panels.

France’s Saint-Pourçain workshop's structure was built using oak, chosen for its low environmental impact, which earned it the BREEAM^® certification in 2020.

Reducing Carbon-Dependant Transportation

is the year Louis Vuitton became the first luxury house with an ISO 14001 certified supply chain. This certification allows us to enact continuous environmental improvement objectives with our partners, involving monitoring store’s needs, optimising routes, as well as looking at energy-efficient vehicles and alternative fuels.

Working together with our transporters:

We determine and share concrete commitments and objectives with all our transport partners from the outset when we call for bids. We have developed a unique and innovative internal method that positions the respect for the environment as one of the pre-selection criteria when determining shortlists of potential partners. Such calls for bids were launched in France in 2016, in Asia in 2018 and 2020, and in the USA in 2019.

Increasing transportation energy efficiency by producing and transporting just what is needed:

Maintaining a low level of stock, which is adjusted in real-time, allows us to increase the agility of our processes and minimise our environmental impact. This also enables our workshops to produce as leanly as possible and limit oversupply and therefore control product obsolescence.

Increasing transportation energy efficiency by shifting to alternative energies:

of energy used for local ground transport must come from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030. We already encourage our partners to use electric or natural gas vehicles for deliveries between our workshops and central warehouses or to our stores, which is already the case for our stores in Los Angeles, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Milan, and half a dozen other cities around the world.