// Gucci plans to go carbon neutral
// The initiative is part of Gucci’s partnership with UN project Redd+
Gucci has announced plans to go carbon neutral in a bid to tackle climate crisis.
The luxury retailer’s strategy stretches from its supply chain to its fashion shows.
“The more time that goes by, the more reports from the scientists are clear – the planet has gone too far,” Gucci chief executive Marco Bizzarri told the Guardian.
The initiative is a part of its partnership with UN project Redd+.
By incorporating its entire supply chain into its strategy, which includes external businesses such as the tanneries, Bizzarri said Gucci was targeting the part of its production that causes the most damage.
The early supply chain currently accounts for 90 per cent of its greenhouse gas emissions.
It is also working to reduce materials wastage and use of water, upcycling more, using technology to reduce its impact, and relying more on organic fibres or sustainable materials like econyl.
“But if we wait to be perfect, in terms of the calculation of impact or methodology, to me it’s just an excuse for not doing it,” Bizzarri said.
“More and more, we just need to act. We are not perfect and it’s not a matter of saying we are the best, it’s a matter of showing it can be done, and hopefully others will follow this path.
“In the future we can look at going in that direction, but at the moment for me the level of technology is not yet there, so the show is the best way to present the ideas of a luxury fashion house like ours, the level at which we do these shows is paramount in the connectivity of our creative directors and design teams because they express the narrative of the collection to customers.”
For its spring/summer 2020 show, due to take place in Milan next week, Gucci will offset its guests’ carbon footprint and the set of the show will be reused in its shops.
“For a company like ours, there is no better way to do it than to offset,” Bizzarri said.
“The best way to have zero emissions is to close the company, but then 18,000 people will lose their jobs.”
Meanwhile, Gucci’s environmental profit and loss initiative has been operating since 2015 as a part of its 10-year sustainability strategy.
The strategy includes reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent by 2025.
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