Kering

Sustainability strategy and accountability
Kering discloses a materiality assessment approach that identifies  key sustainability challenges matching its activities. The approach sits at the heart of the group’s sustainability strategy and was updated in 2020. Moreover, in 2013, Kering developed a methodology known as Environmental Profit & Loss (EP&L) to quantify its material impacts across six areas (air pollution, greenhouse gases, land use and biodiversity, waste, water consumption and water pollution). By 2025, Kering aims to reduce GHG emissions by 50%, in line with a 1.5-degree trajectory, and its overall nature-related impact by 40%. Kering regularly and consistently reports on its progress. The company has also taken significant steps to make its senior executives accountable for the group’s sustainability strategy. The chair’s and CEO’s salary is composed of an annual variable remuneration, which responds to performance criteria in Kering’s sustainability strategy, and a multi-annual remuneration linked to the achievement of biodiversity targets.

Stakeholder engagement
Kering discloses an overview of the issues raised during its stakeholder engagement activities as well as the frequency of and channels used for these communications. These interactions include issues related to nature and biodiversity and social issues. Stakeholder interactions are fed into Kering’s materiality analysis and are used to structure the company’s sustainability strategy.

Impact and dependencies assessment
Kering’s approach quantifies its environmental impact in different areas, including ecosystems, biodiversity and natural spaces, and that of its supply chain, from its own operations to suppliers, including raw material production. In 2021, the company estimated its environmental impact in monetary terms, reporting a 41% reduction compared to the 2015 base year relative to its revenue.

Key areas and species
Kering has a management plan for locations within its own operations adjacent to areas important for biodiversity, and it discloses the percentage of land, fresh water and sea use in those locations.

Resource exploitation and circularity
Kering reports on the quantity of materials used as well as the associated environmental impact for specific countries. The company also lists the animal species it exploits throughout its supply chain. In addition, Kering’s Coming Full Circle circularity strategy includes several targets such as zero destruction of unsold goods, zero single-use plastics by 2025 for its consumer packaging or zero microfibre waste by 2030. The company is also active in decoupling its financial performance from a linear consumption model.

Water
Kering reports interacting with its suppliers with the goal of minimising their environmental impact, including water withdrawals. In 2020, 10% of suppliers representing 80% of procurement were evaluated on their water use through a collaborative online platform developed to analyse their performance on criteria covering environmental impacts. The company’s overall goal is to reduce water pollution by 40%. Kering also requires its business relationships to secure access to water and sanitation, including refraining from negatively affecting access to safe water.

Solid and air pollution
Kering has set a target to eliminate all hazardous chemicals from all its brands’ products and production processes. To achieve this, Kering has established two types of lists of substances subject to restrictions: the Manufacturing Restricted Substance List (MRSL) for production processes and the Product Restricted Substance List (PRSL) for products.

Indigenous peoples’ and land rights
Kering is committed to respecting Indigenous Peoples’ rights. It requires its business relationships to identify and recognise affected Indigenous Peoples and to obtain their free, prior and informed consent regarding whether and how to carry out projects.

Lobbying
Kering discloses a list of trade associations of which it is a member wherever it operates. However, it does not disclose a clear and detailed framework for assessing alignment of its trade associations with nature-positive policies. It also does not report potential misalignment between the lobbying activities of its trade associations and nature-positive policies.

Key areas and species
Kering does not disclose the locations of its own operations or the locations of its suppliers that are in or adjacent to areas important for biodiversity. Furthermore, it does not disclose species populations existing in or adjacent to its own locations or that of its suppliers. Lastly, Kering does not disclose the status according to national and international conservation lists of those species identified in its own locations.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
As part of its biodiversity strategy, Kering has a commitment to ensure zero deforestation and zero conversion of ecosystems with high conservation value for all of its key commodities. The company aims to avoid all products originating from the conversion of ecosystems with high conservation value, in line with a target of no net loss of nature by 2030. However, it does not disclose the details and outcomes of any restoration projects undertaken.

Resource exploitation and circularity
While Kering discloses activities to improve soil health or agrobiodiversity in its production or sourcing practices, it does not have a target to improve soil health in its production or sourcing practices.

Water
Kering does not directly report on quantitative reductions in water withdrawal across its own operations and those of its business relationships, nor does it disclose time-bound targets to lead on these reductions. Furthermore, no information was found concerning the amount of water withdrawn from water-stressed areas as a direct result of its operations or those of its suppliers. Regarding water pollution, while Kering indirectly reports decreases in water pollution, and discloses processes for managing and monitoring discharge water quality, it does not report regularly on specific water quality parameters. Finally, Kering has yet to publicly commit to respecting the right to water as well as to disclose its processes for implementing preventive and corrective action plans for identified specific risks to the right to water and sanitation in its own operations.

Solid and air pollution
Kering lacks a commitment to avoid developing or marketing new chemicals or products with SVHC (substance of very high concern) properties. In addition, while Kering is reducing the production of hazardous waste, as well as plastic use and waste in its own operations, insufficient evidence of reporting on the total amount of plastic waste generated and proportions directed from or to disposal could be found in the public domain.

Greenhouse gas emissions
Kering’s scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions’ targets are aligned with a 1.5-degree trajectory. However, its scope 1 and 2 emissions increased in 2021 compared to 2020 and 2019. Similarly, no evidence could be found suggesting that Kering reduced its scope 3 emissions in 2021 compared to previous years.

Invasive species
Kering does not identify the business activities that could lead to the introduction of IAS in its own operations.

Safe, healthy, clean environment
While Kering engages with local communities through various initiatives and projects, no evidence was found that it expressly recognises the right of local communities in which it operates to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment. Additionally, although Kering tracks its actual or potential negative impacts on the health of local communities, it is not committed to zero tolerance for acts of violence, threats, intimidation or judicial harassment committed against land and environmental rights defenders.

Indigenous peoples’ and land rights
Kering does not disclose its processes for identifying and recognising the rights of Indigenous Peoples when activities in its own operations may impact these rights, nor does it describe how it obtains Indigenous Peoples’ free, prior and informed consent. Although the company commits to avoiding forced eviction, displacement of populations and violation of personal property, there is no evidence that it is committed to respecting ownership and use of land and natural resources and related legitimate tenure rights. Furthermore, Kering does not require its business relationships to have a process to identify legitimate tenure rightsholders, paying particular attention to vulnerable or marginalised tenure rightsholders, and to negotiate with them to provide adequate compensation.

Kering describes the process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts in specific locations or activities covering its own operations and those of its business relationships. It also describes its process(es) for assessing its human rights risks and discloses what it considers to be its salient human rights issues. Furthermore, it details its global system to take action to prevent, mitigate or remediate salient human rights issues, including a description of how its global system applies to its supply chain. Regarding stakeholder engagement on human rights, Kering discloses the categories of stakeholders it engages with generally on sustainability issues. However, it is unclear whether these stakeholders are those whose human rights have been or may be affected by Kering’s activities. Consequently, there is no evidence that Kering engages with these affected stakeholders.

Kering has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect the health and safety of its workers and its suppliers. In terms of a living wage, Kering has a time-bound target to pay all workers a living wage. It describes how it determines a living wage for the different regions where it operates and the work undertaken to support the payment of a living wage by its suppliers. Kering discloses the proportion of its suppliers covered by collective bargaining agreements. However, it does not disclose the proportion of its total direct operations workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements. Finally, while Kering states that it encourages its suppliers to respect employees’ rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining, it has an opportunity to describe how it works to support the practices of its suppliers in this regard.

Kering discloses a global tax strategy and is taking steps to identify and address bribery and corruption, such as including anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with direct business relationships. Regarding lobbying and political engagement, Kering has outlined its approach to these matters and specifies that it does not make political contributions. However, its approach to lobbying and political engagement has not yet been formalised in a public policy document.