Puma

Sustainability strategy and accountability
Puma has group-wide targets on key sustainability topics for the most material parts of its value chain and reports consistently against all its targets.

Stakeholder engagement
Puma discloses how often and through which channels it engages with various stakeholder groups as well as how its stakeholder engagement activities impact its sustainability strategy.

Water
Puma engages with suppliers to define targets to reduce water withdrawal. It also reports how it depends on water withdrawal from water-stressed areas in its supply chain. Furthermore, it has a commitment to respect the right to water.

Solid and air pollution
Puma has targets to phase out the production of hazardous substances and increase the production of safer alternatives and reports progress against these targets. Concerning plastics and waste, the company reports some activities to reduce plastic use and waste in its own operations. Furthermore, it reports on the proportion of reused or recycled products and single-use plastics.

No leading practices were identified for the company in the social inclusion and community impact area.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
While Puma mentions that meeting sustainability targets is part of the annual performance bonus for executive leaders and that these objectives cover issues such as human rights, plastics and oceans, no details regarding these targets were provided. Furthermore, the supervisory board has received training on sustainability issues that are relevant to the company. However, there is no evidence that this training has led to a degree of expertise to supervise the sustainability strategy at the highest levels.

Stakeholder engagement
There is an opportunity for Puma to disclose an overview of the issues raised during its stakeholder engagement activities.

Lobbying
Puma is encouraged to report on its lobbying and advocacy practices on nature-related issues and whether these activities align with its sustainability strategy.

Impact and dependencies assessment
Puma has an opportunity to assess its nature-related impacts and dependencies across its own operations and its business relationships.

Key areas and species
There is an opportunity for Puma to disclose key species or areas important for biodiversity affected by its own operations or suppliers.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
While Puma is committed to minimising ecosystem conversion, it can commit to ensuring zero conversion and restoring any impact to ecosystems derived from its activities. Puma does not disclose details and outcomes of ecosystem restoration projects in areas affected by its own operations or by its suppliers.

Resource exploitation and circularity
While Puma reports on its paper use, there is no evidence that it discloses its inputs, including its material footprint, according to an international standard. Furthermore, the company does not report quantitatively on its group-wide circularity performance. Concerning soil health, Puma does not disclose efforts to improve it.

Water
There is an opportunity for Puma to set group-wide absolute targets for water withdrawal reduction and to report how much water is withdrawn for its own operations in water-stressed areas. In terms of water pollution, the company reports a decrease in water pollution but has yet to define targets for tackling this issue. The company does not disclose its processes for managing and monitoring discharge water quality. Furthermore, while Puma provides percentage data on its suppliers’ compliance with several conventional parameters set by the ZDHC Wastewater Guidelines, no absolute data is provided for these parameters, and no multi-year monitoring of these parameters is available. There is an opportunity for the company 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
Puma’s goal of making all of its products 100% safe is not considered equivalent to a commitment by the company to eliminate the use of hazardous substances in its products. Furthermore, there is no evidence that the company is reducing the production of hazardous waste. In terms of plastics and waste, the company reduced the amount of single-use plastic used. However, there is no evidence that it is reducing its overall plastic consumption. Furthermore, it does not report on the amount of plastic waste generated and the proportions directed from or to disposal. Concerning air pollution, Puma is encouraged to define time-bound targets to reduce air pollutants across the most material parts of its value chain as a first step. There is also an opportunity for the company to report on air quality parameters of emissions of harmful air pollutants.

GHG emissions
There is an opportunity for Puma to align its scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions reduction targets with a 1.5-degree trajectory.

Invasive species
While Puma has not identified any activities that could lead to the introduction of invasives species in its own operations, there is an opportunity for the company to broaden the scope of its identification process to include its business relationships.

Safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment
Puma does not commit to respecting local communities’ right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, nor does it track its actual or potential negative impacts on the health of local communities. The company guarantees human rights defenders across the value chain the use of grievance mechanisms without retaliation or any other threat. However, there is no evidence that the company is committed to protecting human rights defenders from any acts of violence.

Indigenous Peoples’ and land rights
There is an opportunity for Puma to show its commitment to respect Indigenous Peoples’ rights or land rights of local communities.

Puma describes its process for identifying and assessing its human rights risks and impacts in specific locations or activities covering its own operations and its business relationships. It also discloses what it considers to be its salient human rights issues. Furthermore, it describes 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. In terms of stakeholder engagement, the company discloses categories of stakeholders whose human rights have been or may be affected by its activities. However, while Puma provides an example of its engagement with stakeholders on sustainability, there is no evidence that it provides at least two examples of its engagement with stakeholders whose human rights have been or may be affected by its activities (or their legitimate representatives or multi-stakeholder initiatives) in the last two years.

Puma has a publicly available policy statement which shows it is committed to respecting the health and safety of workers, and it expects its suppliers to commit to respecting the health and safety of their workers. The company states that it pays a minimum wage or the appropriate prevailing wage, whichever is higher. However, it does not disclose if this wage is enough to maintain a decent standard of living for employees and their family. Furthermore, it does not provide a time-bound target for paying all workers a living wage or that it has achieved paying all workers a living wage. There is also an opportunity for Puma to describe how it determines a living wage for the regions where it operates. While it states that it expects its suppliers to pay wages sufficient for workers and their families to fulfil their basic needs, it has an opportunity to disclose how it works to support the payment of a living wage by its suppliers. Concerning freedom of association and collective bargaining, the company discloses the proportion of its total direct operations workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements. It encourages its suppliers to respect employees’ right to freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining. However, it has an opportunity to describe how it works to support the practices of its suppliers in this regard.

Puma has an opportunity to publish a global tax strategy and should assign responsibility for this strategy to an executive-level individual or body. The company states that it has set up a compliance management system to systematically prevent, detect and sanction violations relating to corruption. However, there is no evidence that it describes the process for identifying these risks and impacts. Furthermore, Puma includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with direct business relationships. Concerning lobbying and political engagement, the company specifies that it does not make political contributions. However, it is encouraged to provide evidence of its lobbying and political engagement approach.