At Levi Strauss & Co., we have long believed that environmental stewardship is a critical component of a company’s corporate citizenship profile, and have been a leader in addressing environmental issues associated with apparel production.
We included environmental provisions in our groundbreaking Sourcing and Operating Guidelines in 1991. In 1995, we were the first the global apparel company to implement Global Effluent Guidelines for our suppliers, strict wastewater guidelines that all contract laundries and finishing facilities must meet. We also developed an industry-leading, comprehensive Restricted Substance List, part of our continuing efforts to ensure that our products are manufactured in a responsible and environmentally-sensitive manner.
We began experimenting with organic cotton and recycled denim in the early 1990s. In 2006 we produced what we believe to be the first certified sustainable blue jeans. Levi Strauss Europe’s Levi’s® eco jean was certified as an “EKO Sustainable Textile” by Control Union Certifications, a leading worldwide inspection and certification body for organic production and products.
Looking to the future, and at our citizenship goals in the area of the environment, we know that we must look beyond design and production to assess the potential effects of our business on the environment.
We also recognize that the emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) is a major contributor to global climate change, and we are committed to reducing emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases (GHG) from our operations globally. To learn more about how we might reduce our overall GHG emissions and share best practices with other concerned companies, in 2007 we joined the World Resources Institute’s Green Power Group – California Affiliates, an organization that is exploring the development and use of renewable energy, particularly in California, for commercial and industrial operations.
As a recognized leader in corporate citizenship and a global company with a presence in more than 110 countries, we understand our responsibility to manage and reduce the negative impacts of our operations wherever possible. To this end, we have begun a comprehensive data-gathering and benchmarking exercise, the results of which will be used to develop a global environmental strategy to address targeted issues.
- We completed a “cradle-to-grave” lifecycle assessment (LCA) of select high-volume products that provides us important insights relating to the environmental impact of our products – from the cotton fields through production and consumer use and then disposal – looking at impacts related to energy and water usage, climate change, waste production and other areas
- We conducted a validation study for our Global Effluent Guidelines to verify the data we were receiving from contractors and to provide a globally consistent data set to help us make program improvements and build capacity at the supplier level.
- We established our 2006 GHG inventory for owned/leased-and-operated facilities (headquarters, distribution centers, retail stores, data centers, sales offices, etc.) in the Americas and are in the process of gathering the same information from other regions in order to set global baselines and targets for future emissions reductions. The Americas data was verified by a third-party consultant relying on the World Resources Institute's GHG Protocol and protocols from the California Climate Action Registry.
- We have completed a Facilities Environmental Impact Assessment (FEIA) to learn about the overall environmental impacts (water, waste, energy use/climate change, chemicals, materials, etc.) of our owned/leased-and-operated facilities around the world.
With this data we are in the process of developing a comprehensive environmental strategy for the company with clear targets and objectives that we and our stakeholders can work toward, track and benefit from.