Levi Strauss & Co. (LS&Co.) is one step closer to achieving net zero.
The San Francisco denim giant’s net zero goal for 2050 was officially validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), giving the company a clear target to work toward across its operations.
In a blog post, Jeffrey Hogue, LS&Co.’s chief sustainability officer, wrote that to ensure the net zero goal complies with SBTi requirements, the company is aligning its supply chain emissions reductions pathways to be consistent with limiting temperature rise to no more than 1.5C.
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SBTi is a corporate climate action organization that show companies and financial institutions how much and how quickly they need to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
LS&Co. is updating its near-term scope 3 goal base year from 2016 to 2022. From a previously SBTi-approved goal of 40 percent Scope 3 absolute emissions reduction by 2025, off a 2016 baseline year, Hogue said LS&Co. is now targeting a 42 percent Scope 3 absolute emissions reduction by 2030, from a baseline year of 2022.
“As of 2022, we had already reduced Scope 3 emissions by 23 percent from our original 2016 baseline year, and we are committed to maintaining our progress to meet an additional 42 percent reduction between now and 2030,” he wrote.
He added that SBTi-approved scope 1 and 2 targets to reduce absolute emissions by 90 percent by 2025, over a 2016 baseline, is not changing. LS&Co’s commitment to 100 percent renewable energy in owned-and-operated facilities by 2025 remains the same too.
The updates will have a positive effect on LS&Co. supply chain. Hogue wrote that the new baseline means the company is “moving on to the same time horizon as many other apparel companies, including many that operate with the same suppliers we do.”
He added that LS&Co. will be in a better position to “help factories transition away from coal, increase renewable energy use, upgrade facilities and collect better primary data to identify changes, progress and additional areas for improvements.”
“The new baseline year, along with improvements in data collection and modeling over the past decade, means we can more accurately reflect our company’s operations and climate impacts by including land- and agriculturally based emissions,” he wrote.
LS&Co. will release a Climate Action Transition Plan for 2030 later this year, “providing greater detail on the steps we will take on our own and in collaboration with others to meet these new targets,” Hogue wrote.
