As signatories of G7 Fashion Pact we are committed to not contributing to the loss or degradation of natural forests. Our collaboration with The Biodiversity Consultancy began with a land occupancy analysis which allowed us to know exactly where to act by applying the ARRRT framework: avoid, reduce, regenerate, restore and transform.
There are a number of ways we are contributing to avoiding deforestion by supporting certifications of the materials we source. Examples include;
Leather
We know that the impacts of leather production can be significant and stretch right along its value chain, from methane emissions and conversion of forests and pastureland, to the chemicals, water and energy used in the processing and tanning of leather. We have a target to source 100% of our leather from tanneries with environmental, traceability and social compliance certifications by 2025 and fully support tannery certification as one of several ways to help drive more responsible leather production. We currently source 92% of our leather from certified tanneries and have a policy in place not to source leather from cattle raised in the Amazon Biome, which reflects our commitment to avoid deforestation and forest degradation associated with leather procurement.
Packaging
We work closely with our suppliers to identify and assess risks to biodiversity when sourcing materials for our packaging. During the development of our policy for sourcing packaging, our Responsibility team visited a forest in a key sourcing location with a supplier to gain a deep understanding of the technical requirements for sustainably managed forests. Our key retail packaging supplier adopts forest certification with a preference for Forest Stewardship Council (FSC TM) of custody standards and can trace the wood used to manufacture wood pulp back to forests in countries including Sweden, Finland, Spain and Portugal.
In 2019, we launched a new sustainable customer facing packaging portfolio. Using an innovative manufacturing technique, at least 40% of the retail bags and boxes are made from recycled materials, including upcycled coffee cups and FSC Mix certified paper. Since the launch of the new packaging, we have recycled 66 million coffee cups into Burberry packaging. All retail bags and gift boxes which have a beautiful, luxurious feel, are plastic-free, fully recyclable and reusable. We are working to further increase the use of recycled materials in our products and operational packaging, as well as supporting the scaling and use of alternative fibers.
Man-made cellulosic fibres
We aim to maximise long-lasting solutions for forests through the responsible sourcing of man-made cellulosic fibres such as viscose (which accounts for less than 1% of our raw material use) by sourcing from only Canopy green rated suppliers.
LEAF Coalition
In FY 2021/22, through the Burberry Regeneration Fund, we also committed to the global Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest finance (LEAF) Coalition to support the end of deforestation in tropical and subtropical forest countries. We support the LEAF Coalition’s aim of achieving its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement. As part of the LEAF Coalition, over the next five years Burberry will purchase high-quality Emissions Reductions. These will meet the ART-TREES requirements and contribute to our global mitigation efforts. as part of the Regeneration Fund’s pillars of Planet, Nature and People.