Kering launches report on climate change and leather ahead of COP21
05/11/2015
With the title ‘Climate change: implications and strategies for the luxury fashion sector’, the report is the result of work Kering has carried out with non-profit organisation BSR using analysis (commissioned by Kering) from UK-based consultancy Verisk Maplecroft. Its aim is to provide an overview of climate change risks across the value chain and to emphasise how important it is for luxury fashion companies to include consideration of possible effects on raw materials in any “robust and ambitious” climate strategy.
The context is that the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) will take place in Paris from November 30 to December 11 and seek to establish a legally binding and universal agreement on climate. Paris-based Kering said in its introduction to the new report that it believes business “can and has to” drive action that can help. Marie-Claire Daveu, Kering’s chief sustainability officer, said: “We can replace the outdated ‘compete and consume’ business models with ones that
are ‘collaborative and regenerative’ and that build resilience across our supply chains.”
Specific to leather, the report says calfskin is less likely to be directly affected by climate change than leather from cows or bulls because calves are generally reared indoors. However, it says cattle production in general is “at risk from increasing water scarcity, degradation of pasture and livestock feed, and increasing heat stress for the animals”.
It lists “key vulnerabilities” that climate change could impose on bovine leather as extreme and prolonged droughts, restricted availability of water for feed and warming climates spreading pests and disease into new regions as factors that will impact cattle productivity and hide availability and quality. The timeframe it has looked at for this is the period between 2036 and 2060.
It claims its analysis shows that the number of bovine heat stress days will increase in many sourcing countries with consequences for the dairy, meat, and hide production industries. Brazil demonstrates “particularly high exposure to climate threats”, Kering has said.
The report goes on to say that the highest-quality sheep leather comes from hair sheep breeds as opposed to wool sheep and describes the leather as lightweight, warm, and delicate. The analysis finds that sheep are generally a versatile form of livestock, and that hair sheep’s coarse coat may inherently make them more adaptable to a changing climate. Yet, sheep can be sensitive to temperature extremes and humidity, and the quality of grazing pasture can affect skin quality. Sheep are mostly raised on semi-arid lands on ‘natural grasslands’ where pasture conditions and water availability are particularly vulnerable to climate change, it says.
Here too warming climates are likely to allow pests and diseases to spread into new regions, affecting sheep productivity. Ongoing desertification increases the vulnerability of sheep flocks, including in Mediterranean countries and Patagonia. Another vulnerability the report points to is that much of the raw material for sheep leather comes from small-scale producers who lack the resources to adapt to changing conditions.
As part of the company’s overall sustainability targets, Kering has already announced that, by 2016, 100% of the bovine, sheep and goat leather it uses will be from “responsible and verified sources that do not result in converting sensitive ecosystems into grazing lands or agricultural lands for food production”.
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