LVMH 2018  .  Environmental Report

15

PROGRESS DRIVERS AND BEST PRACTICES

CO-BUILD WITH INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL

PARTNERSHIPS

Increase professional exchanges It is impossible for one business alone to solve often systemic environmental problems. This is why common discussion and reflection in the Group s environmental policy is so important. It actively par- ticipates, alongside public and private stakeholders, in a number of professional technical projects on the protection of natural resources. It also plays a driving role in pushing its markets toward environ- mental excellence and contributes to many collec- t ive advances.

This policy particularly focuses on sustainable development issues, which are central in meeting the challenges set by LIFE 2020. LVMH is a member of the Biodiversity working groups of Orée, the French multi-player organization, and of the Fédération des entreprises de la beauté (FEBEA, the French beauty companies association), sits on the Responsible Jewelry Council (RJC), takes an active role in The Dragonfly Initiative (TDI) on best practices in the extraction of colored stones, the Leather Working Group (LWG), Textile Exchange and Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), the world leader in corporate social, societal and envi- ronmental responsibility.

Set up project partnerships Its desire to progress through collective action leads LVMH to regularly develop project partnerships. The Group collaborates with several states and commu- nities. In 2015, it signed the Paris Climate Action Charter initiated by the City of Paris, making a com- mitment to reduce energy consumption by 20% and to increase green energy consumption by 50% at its

150 sites located within the area of Greater Paris 2020. Early in 2018, these targets had already been achieved as the rate of green energy used on the sites had already reached 60% and energy use had declined by 20%. Faced with the climate emer- gency, LVMH then took a new step: a signatory of the new Paris Climate Plan, the Group now supports a vision of a carbon-neutral city of Paris and 100% renewable energy by 2050.

LVMH also has research partners, such as the Foundation for Biodiversity Research (FRB). A found- ing member of the FRB, in 2014 the Group became the first private company to join the eight public research bodies to sit on its Board of Directors. It is also one of the 160 members of the Foundation s Strategy Board, charged with reviewing the design of research programs to promote biodiversity. LVMH monitors all the FRB s work, and regularly contrib- utes to this work with the assistance of the Houses. Based on a study conducted on two lines of plants for cosmetic use present in the formulation of the Christian Dior perfumes, for example, the FRB published recommendations on the use of natural substances and access to and the sharing of the benefits in the cosmetics industry. Established in Montreal, Quebec, the CIRAIG, the International Reference Center for the Life Cycle of Products, Processes and Services, is another key partner of LVMH. As an industrial partner, the Group supports the Center s work on the circular economy and the water footprint. It has also financed a Research Chair since 2003, so that its Houses can benefit from the support of the best global specialists in the areas of Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and eco-design.

In addition to these partnerships, LVMH has forged partnerships in the academic world. They allow