Denim giant Levi’s is claiming significant progress in its progress on reducing its environmental impacts in its newly published ‘2022 Sustainability Goals & Progress Update’ report. The company said it was more than halfway to meeting its goal of a 40 percent absolute reduction in its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2025, against a 2016 base year, in its supply chain where the bulk of the industry’s carbon footprint lies.
Levi’s reduced supply chain GHG emissions by 23 percent, said the report, adding the company was working with its key suppliers to hit its targets which would require investments in both equipment and renewable energy.
The company has also began the process of identifying decarbonisation pathways with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) around its longer term target of net-zero emissions by no later than 2050.
Levi’s also achieved a 71percent reduction in GHG emissions in company-owned facilities last year, against the 2016 base year, mostly by efficiencies and switching to renewable energy which now accounts for 90 percent of electricity used in those facilities.
The company also reported a 14 percent reduction in freshwater use in manufacturing in 2021, the most recent year for which figures are available, however this was higher than 2020 due to increased production after the pandemic.
“To meet our goal, we plan to redouble our efforts to encourage more water recycling and other water efficient processes with our supply chain partners,” said the report.
Levi’s also reported that it had been working with a third party to conduct a baseline assessment against which a new target, to prevent and reduce the company’s impact on diversity within its supply chain, which had now been agreed.
It includes investing in at least three projects in water-stressed basins in its raw material supply chain by 2030, reach zero deforestation across high-risk materials by the end of 2025, and protect and restore 30 percent of its raw material footprint in high biodiversity significant regions by the end of 2030.
Levi’s was also progressing on its goal of using only primary raw materials judged as ‘preferred’ or more sustainable by third parties by 2030. It had increased its use of more sustainable cotton from 95-99 percent, leather from Leather Working Group-rated suppliers from 35-60 percent, and recycled polyester from 8-11 percent.
Jeffrey Hogue, Levi’s chief sustainability officer, commented: “We’ve said it before but it bears repeating: collaboration, in both conventional and unconventional forms, is critical and will only become more so.
“To make real progress on the most important issues the industry is facing, we’ll need new types of leadership, partnership and commitment that do not focus on being first or differentiating our approaches from our competitors, but instead move us forward in ways that benefit all our stakeholders.”
