Levi Strauss unveils new climate action strategy

Levi Strauss has announced a new climate action strategy, which sets aggressive targets for reducing carbon emissions across its owned-and-operated facilities and global supply chain by 2025. This includes using 100 per cent renewable electricity in company-owned facilities. Levi Strauss & Co. a global leader in jeanswear, headquartered in the US.

While Levi Strauss has a strong track record of reducing carbon emissions in its own operations, the most significant climate impact, and the most difficult to tackle, lies within the apparel industry’s global supply chain. The new climate action strategy addresses this part of the company’s carbon footprint.

Levi Strauss’ science-based targets, which are ambitious in their timeline and aims, are part of the company’s efforts to make the global apparel industry more sustainable. Approved by the Science Based Targets initiative, these 2025 targets include a 90 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in all owned-and-operated facilities. This will be achieved by investing in onsite renewable energy and energy efficiency upgrades.

The next target is a 40 per cent reduction in GHG emissions in the supply chain, which will in large part be achieved by working with key suppliers to expand the International Finance Corporation’s Partnership for Cleaner Textiles (IFC PaCT) globally. The IFC PaCT is an innovative public-private partnership that provides suppliers with technical expertise and access to low-cost financing to support sustainable energy and water investments.

Chip Bergh, president and chief executive officer of Levi Strauss said, “We believe that business has the opportunity and the responsibility to be a force for positive change in the world. We are proud to be one of the first companies to set science-based targets for our global supply chain, and we hope to be an inspiration for others to follow.”

Science-based targets provide companies with a clearly defined way to help prevent climate change by specifying how much, and how quickly, they need to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Targets are considered ‘science-based’ if they are in line with the level of decarbonisation required to keep global temperature increase below two degrees celsius compared to pre-industrial temperatures.