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 -38% between 2013 and 2020 (on a comparable basis), exceeding LVMH’s target of -25% for 2020.

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, we have been able to decrease our total energy consumption due to lighting by -30% since 2013.

Warehouses & workshops

energy has been saved by our production sites between 2013 and 2020, despite a marked increase in production over that same period. This is explained by the integration of an environmental approach at both the workshops’ construction phase as well as in the way they are operated on a day-to-day basis.

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 centre or computer energy consumption. Louis Vuitton, as a digital pioneer for the luxury industry, is prioritising 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. These installations allow our buildings to supply anywhere from 30% to 100% of the site’s annual electricity needs for heating and air-conditioning, which is the case for our Florence and Paris Vendôme stores.

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).

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, 78% 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.