LVMH, Kering, L’Occitane, and H&M Group are among the 17 leading global companies that are spearheading the implementation of the first-ever science-based targets for nature. This groundbreaking initiative aims to provide guidance to corporations in their efforts towards nature conservation and restoration, potentially marking a pivotal moment in the fashion industry's relationship with the natural world and bolstering brands with ambitious sustainability goals.
The Science Based Targets Network (SBTN), consisting of over 45 organizations, is unveiling these targets, building upon the success of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), which focuses on defining and promoting best practices for emissions reductions and net-zero targets aligned with climate science. Presently, more than 2,000 companies have committed to science-based targets for reducing their emissions. The introduction of the new targets seeks to emphasize the urgency surrounding biodiversity conservation and nature-based climate solutions.
Scientists increasingly assert that limiting global warming to 1.5°C, a goal that is already appearing less attainable, requires halting and reversing the loss of nature. This is due, in part, to the fact that nature absorbs roughly half of global carbon emissions each year. Economists, including those at the World Economic Forum, highlight that over half of the world's GDP is directly reliant on biodiversity. Consequently, companies that fail to prioritize their relationship with nature are jeopardizing their own businesses.
Companies possess limited knowledge about their impact on nature compared to their understanding of emissions generation. Moreover, nature encompasses diverse ecosystems such as oceans, freshwater, arid soils, and tropical rainforests, and the fashion industry's global operations have implications for all of them.
SBTN is Guiding Companies in the Fashion Industry to Assess Their Impact
Ecosystems are inherently place-based, and farming practices suitable for soil health in one region may not be applicable in another. Scientific evidence demonstrates the alarming decline of global biodiversity, with industries like fashion significantly contributing to this crisis. Nevertheless, these industries possess a significant opportunity to rectify the situation. This is where SBTN aims to intervene.
The guidance being released represents an initial version that allows companies to commence the process of setting targets in the areas of land and freshwater. Companies will begin by assessing and prioritizing their areas of impact and identifying opportunities for improvement. The guidance will be expanded over time to incorporate impacts on oceans and other areas.
The resulting information will be used by companies to prepare for setting specific targets, which will subsequently undergo validation by SBTN, expected to take place in early 2024. Although the current guidance remains incomplete, the goal is to generate as much immediate action as possible, given the scale and urgency of the issue at hand. The pilot program aims to verify the process itself, with participating companies evaluating their upstream and direct operations to identify significant impacts on nature.
This trial will provide valuable insights into potential roadblocks or gaps within the process. LVMH's Hélène Valade notes that the pilot will enable companies to report difficulties in setting nature objectives and engage in constructive dialogue to address them. The guidance sets forth specific requirements for each focus area and emphasizes the importance of engaging with local communities and other stakeholders. This collaboration is crucial for effective target setting and implementation, particularly for traditionally underrepresented groups like Indigenous people and local communities.
Reductions in Water Usage Will Be Imperative
In the realm of freshwater, companies will need to target an absolute reduction in water usage and nitrogen and phosphorus pollution. This will have significant implications for the fashion industry's agricultural supply chain, as common farming practices have led to nutrient pollution and the creation of "dead zones" in coastal waters worldwide.
In terms of n the land side, companies will need a target of no deforestation, as well as no conversion of other ecosystems, such as grasslands and wetlands — which zre often overlooked, relative to the heavy focus on deforestation. Conversion can involve transforming essentially any landscape for any purpose that isn’t its natural function; one key example is the growing of animal feed for livestock.
As challenging as it is for brands to trace leather to the slaughterhouse, let alone to the farm level — information that is vital to be able to claim zero deforestation — even more opaque is the sourcing of crops fed to cattle used for leather. It’s those most distant aspects of the supply chain that are most easily forgotten or entirely unidentified by fashion companies and that may account for a significant proportion of their impact on nature. Kering agrees that more attention to these often-underappreciated ecosystems and landscapes will be beneficial, and credits the SBTN for highlighting them.
Pilot Companies to Assess, Prioritize, and Set Specific Science-Based Targets
The pilot companies will work on assessment and prioritization for the first few months — between now and the end of July, in Kering’s case — and the remainder of the year will be focused on actually setting targets. That process is expected to get quite granular — selecting specific water basins for actions on nutrient pollution or for reducing water use by a certain amount, for instance.
LVMH says that when it submits its proposed water and deforestation objectives in November, it “will also identify the geographical areas or watersheds that will be the subject of specific work and dedicated targets whose definition will involve local communities”. The companies will then work with the SBTN early next year to develop specific action plans for achieving their targets.
According to Erin Billman, SBTN executive director, she explains that while other companies won’t be able to have targets validated until next year, they can still make a start. “Any company will be able to use this first release to assess and prioritize their impacts broadly, and prepare to set science-based targets when we have this rollout, which we anticipate for early next year,” she says.
Moving forward, the hope is that science-based targets for nature will build not only on the momentum of the SBTi but also complement any progress it’s achieved on the ground by reinforcing the connection between climate and nature conservation.