Clothing Giant PVH Joins RE100 & Targets 100% Renewables By 2030

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Clothing giant PVH Corp — the parent company of such brands as Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, and Speedo — announced this week that it has joined the RE100 initiative and has committed to sourcing 100% of its electricity needs from renewable energy sources by 2030.

PVH Corp, which is one of the world’s largest clothing companies, boasts some of the world’s most famous brands including Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Speedo, and Van Heusen. The company announced on Wednesday an ambitious target to source 100% renewable electricity throughout its owned-and-operated offices, distribution centers, and stores around the world by 2030. The company also set in place an interim target of securing 50% renewable electricity by 2025.

Out of its renewable energy target, PVH confirmed that it would not only be joining the RE100 initiative — a global corporate leadership initiative led by The Climate Group in partnership with CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project) aimed at supporting and encouraging corporations to target 100% renewable energy — but that it has committed to the Science Based Target initiative (SBTi) — a partnership between CDP, United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute, and WWF, which helps companies set greenhouse gas reduction targets based on the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius.

“Climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing the world today,” said PVH Chairman and CEO Emanuel Chirico. “As a leader in the apparel industry, we believe that we have a responsibility to limit our environmental impact, support cleaner energy alternatives, and mitigate the negative impacts of greenhouse gas emissions. Joining RE100 and the Science Based Targets Initiative are important – and meaningful – steps in our ongoing sustainability journey, leading us toward a circular, low-carbon economy.”

“In the coming years and beyond, we will continue to use our role in the industry to strengthen and grow our partnerships, change workplaces for the better, enhance local communities and protect our shared environment.”

“By joining RE100 and transitioning to 100% renewable electricity, PVH is taking a lead on sustainable clothing,” added Mike Peirce, Corporate Partnerships Director, The Climate Group. “With some of the best-known names in fashion – such as Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and Speedo – all covered by this commitment, there is no doubt that going ‘all in’ on renewable electricity is the future of the apparel industry, bolstering brand reputation and delivering the sustainable approach that consumers increasingly want to see.”

“Greenpeace welcomes PVH’s adoption of a 100% renewable commitment and announcement of its intention of setting a GHG target via the SBT process, both potentially very important steps toward addressing the company’s environmental footprint,” said Gary Cook, Senior Corporate Campaigner with Greenpeace. “The 100% renewable energy target by 2030 that applies to its own operations is the scale of ambition that climate scientists say is needed to avoid dangerous climate change.

“But central to tackling its broader environmental footprint will be reducing emissions in its supply chain,” Cook added, “by asking its suppliers to power their operations with renewable energy, as we now see Apple starting to do, but also by increasing the amount of recycled fiber that is being used in its products, which would significantly reduce the amount of GHGs, water, and other pollution that is occurring in the manufacturing of its products.  Levi’s recently adopted a supply chain GHG reduction target of 45% by 2025, a level of ambition that we hope PVH will not only meet, but exceed.”

PVH Corp’s news comes only days after one of the world’s largest electronics and entertainment companies, Sony Corporation, joining the RE100 initiative alongside other big names such as management consulting leader McKinsey & Company, global coworking and community company WeWork, and one of the oldest banks in Europe, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).


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Joshua S Hill

I'm a Christian, a nerd, a geek, and I believe that we're pretty quickly directing planet-Earth into hell in a handbasket! I also write for Fantasy Book Review (.co.uk), and can be found writing articles for a variety of other sites. Check me out at about.me for more.

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