Sustainability has been a cornerstone of Kering’s business for several years, with Chairman, CEO, and B Team leader, François-Henri Pinault steadfast on changing the luxury industry’s status quo. The Group published the results of its first sustainability chapter in 2016, and recently unveiled its new 2025 strategy to craft tomorrow’s luxury, in line with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The SDGs offer a compelling new growth strategy to drive innovation, growth and development at unprecedented scale. Simply put, the SDGs need business, and business needs the Global Goals. Opportunities created by the SDGs in just four sectors, could create at least US$12 trillion in business value by 2030 – equivalent to 10 percent of forecast GDP – and generate more than 380 million jobs. Business action goes much further than traditional CSR: to reap the rewards, companies must integrate the SDGs into the very heart of their decision making.

Kering embarked on a year-long collaborative process to devise their strategy, working with the CEOs, creative directors, design and corporate teams of all of the Group’s luxury brands. Each brand identified the specific environmental and social challenges they faced, then created tailor-made roadmaps, which incorporated ideas from all levels of management. Along with the individual action-plans for each brand, a series of collective targets have been made, including:

• Reducing the impact of the Group’s Environmental Profit & Loss (EP&L) by 40%, through improvements to sourcing, manufacturing and operations;
• Reducing carbon emissions by 50%, in line with science-based targets;
• Reaching gender parity and salary parity, across all levels of management;
• Empowering the next generation, by establishing a Young Leaders’ Advisory Group. A group of millennials who will advise Kering’s board on innovation and new consumer trends.

Discussing the promise of Kering’s innovative approach, François-Henri Pinault said: “Our strategy outlines how we will redesign our business to continue to thrive and prosper sustainably into the future, while at the same time helping to transform the luxury sector and contributing to meet the significant social and environmental challenges of our generation.”

Read more about Kering’s 2025 strategy here. Read more about the opportunities for businesses working towards the SDGs here.