What sustainability commitments has PUMA signed up for? How much has been achieved up to now?
I have been working in Sustainability at PUMA for 21 years, together with our internal and external partners to integrate sustainability into every aspect of our business. While we have made ambitious commitments and are making steady progress towards achieving them, we still have a long way to go. It is vital to decarbonize our entire industry, but the only way to achieve this goal is if we work collectively across the entire supply chain. As early as 2015, we decided to commit to a science-based greenhouse gas reduction target (SBT). We published our first SBT in 2018, surpassed that greenhouse gas emission reduction target for our own operation and are now working on some even more ambitious goals. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions goes beyond our internal business and into upstream operations, where we work with our manufacturing partners to make their own SBT commitments. Besides the strong commitment and involvement from our suppliers, industry collaboration is key, which is why PUMA participates in a number of industry organizations on sustainability, for example the UN lead Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action.
Internally, we established the 10FOR25 sustainability strategy, through which we transitioned all our entities to 100% renewable electricity (including renewable energy attribute certificates) and set a 25% renewable energy target for our core Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers in 2025, out of which 11% has already been achieved by 2022. In addition, in January 2023 we submitted a 1,5-degree aligned updated science-based target, and our hope is to reduce our offices and warehouses’ absolute emissions by 90% by 2030 in comparison to 2017, as well as reduce supply chain absolute emissions by 33%. Furthermore, we moved towards less carbon-intensive raw materials. Already in 2022 close to 50% of all the polyester we used came from recycled sources, and close to 100% of our cotton was either from licensed sources or recycled. Finally, to deal with transport-related emissions, we have reduced the airfreight ratio from over 3% pre-pandemic to under 1% last year.
Out of all the examples you have given, where do you believe is the weak point in the supply chain and what do you believe will be the biggest change in terms of impact?
From the supply chain point of view, we are at 9% GHG reduction, which means we need to do much more to reach the 33% that we are targeting. There are several hard nuts to crack, the availability of renewable energy in the manufacturing markets being the most prominent example. Centralized state-owned energy companies are not necessarily ready yet to provide green energy, so it is a bit more difficult to include them in the sustainability loop.
Vietnam, for example, has started to scale up the use of solar PVs, and there is also a discussion about power purchase agreements, which would allow direct investment into renewable energy, but the regulatory framework is not ready yet. Aside from all of these, thermal energy is the biggest hurdle we must tackle due to the energy-intensive nature of the fashion industry, especially in textile dying processes. As a result, we must work with suppliers, energy providers and machine manufacturers to exclude coal-fired boilers and replace them with green alternatives that can supply the necessary thermal power. With the help of our logistics partner Maersk, we have started to move our first products by green shipping tariffs and electric trucks.
How does the public respond to your sustainability efforts?
We are getting a spectrum of reactions, from support to criticism. However, most of the feedback has been positive. In 2022 we hosted our PUMA Conference of the People, where we invited Gen Z representatives, PUMA’s industry peers, activists, NGOs, experts, ambassadors, and consumers to discuss solutions for some of the fashion industry’s sustainability challenges. The conference highlighted the need for us to improve how we communicate our sustainability goals, actions, and progress. While we have always documented our progress in sustainable practices, the Conference shed light on the fact that the information we share is not always easily understood, particularly for the next generation. Our first step to improve this was the launch of our PUMA Voices of a RE:GENERATION initiative. Through the initiative, we are working with young changemakers who are providing their honest views and input on our sustainability strategy and helping us to improve and communicate our sustainability efforts better. Building on this, we also launched our PUMA RE:GEN REPORTS, a series of podcasts to unpack our PUMA 10FOR25 sustainability targets and other key topics from our sustainability report.
What do you want to achieve with greatest priority in the next couple of years?
Our vision is to bring sustainability into the mainstream and integrate this concept across the entire range of our business.
We aim to make nine out of ten products more sustainable by using preferred materials, for example by increasing the use of recycled polyester up to 75% in 2025.
This ambition is completed by a strong focus on human and labor rights, as well as the implementation of circular design principles as a part of our efforts to making the whole company and our value chain more sustainable across all dimensions. Ultimately, we hope to move from the current linear production model to a recycling-based framework that would help to decouple growth from resource consumption, avoid waste and support climate action.
