At Levi Strauss & Co., we’re not just about making great clothes — we’re about making great clothes in a sustainable way. By doing what’s right for the planet, we create a business that’s as durable as the products we make.
So, when we met our first set of climate goals two years ahead of schedule, we decided to set even more ambitious, science-based targets. By 2025, LS&Co. is committed to achieving a 90 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in our owned-and-operated facilities, 100 percent renewable energy in our owned-and-operated facilities and a 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions across our entire global supply chain.
As part of our efforts to reach that latter goal, we have signed a $2.3 million cooperation agreement with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, to help us meet our corporate sustainability objectives to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and water use in our supply chain.
Under this agreement, which follows IFC’s Partnership for Cleaner Textiles (PaCT) approach, IFC will work with 42 designated LS&Co. suppliers and mills to reduce GHG emissions by helping suppliers identify and implement appropriate renewable energy and water saving interventions across 10 countries – Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Mexico, Lesotho, Colombia, Turkey, Egypt, and Vietnam. The project follows the success of a 2017 pilot cooperation between the two organizations that helped six LS&Co. suppliers in four countries reduce their emissions by 20 percent and decreased their operating costs by more than $1 million, collectively.
“Across the corporate world, people are waking up to the fact that better sustainability performance drives better business performance,” said Michael Kobori, LS&Co.’s VP of Sustainability. “Vendors in resource-stressed countries have shown the ability to innovate based on conditions on the ground, but in some cases, they need some assistance to make it work. This program provides that assistance, which benefits not just those companies, but also people living in those communities, as well as LS&Co.”
This is a critical element of LS&Co.’s efforts to achieve the science-based targets on climate that we announced last year – specially the commitment to reduce emissions across our global supply chain by 40 percent by 2025. And it’s a program that can work for others in the sector, too; we have already connected other brands with the IFC to discuss what they can do together.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with the IFC to help achieve our science-based climate targets and benefit our vendors and their communities,” said Liz O’Neill, executive vice president, global product and supply chain. “We hope this program can also benefit others in the apparel industry and help reduce our collective footprint.”
The IFC is the largest global development institution and has an extensive track record of helping projects like this work, which makes it the perfect partner for this effort. It’s a program that goes well beyond talk of sustainability to demonstrate how we, and others, can deliver real impact, all around the world.
