German Sports and Lifestyle brand Puma announced a new accounting methodology that it says will lead to the first-ever Environmental Profit and Loss (EP&L) statement. The EP&L statement will attempt to measure the full economic impact of the brand on ecosystem services.
Ecosystem services is the term given to the valuable, natural functions of the planet’s ecosystems, such as water and air filtration. For years, sustainability advocates have called for corporate accounting systems that recognize the value of these services in an effort to protect and preserve them.
Puma commissioned Trucost and PwC to assist in developing the EP&L methodology, but it did not say when the first statement would be released. The company also said it will encourage others within the industry to work towards fully-integrated reporting.
The accounting initiative is part of a larger sustainability program instituted by parent company PPR Group-the French company behind brands like Gucci, Stella McCartney and Yves Saint Laurent.
The Group said the overarching program, dubbed PPR Home, will go beyond the traditional Corporate Social Responsibility model and set a new standard in sustainability and business practice in the Luxury, Sport & Lifestyle and Retail sectors.
The Group committed EUR 10 million annually to PPR Home, which will begin with two other steps in addition to Puma’s commitment.
1. PPR has offset its 2010 global CO2 emissions (98,729 tons) of its Luxury group, Puma brand and PPR’s headquarters to achieve carbon neutrality in Scopes 1 & 2 of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and purchased carbon credits from Wildlife Works’ REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) offsetting project in Kenya. (Wildlife Works’ project recently became the first-ever Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) validated and verified REDD program.)
2. PPR is launching a Creative Sustainability Lab to help lead the industry and foster creativity, innovation and sustainability. Its inaugural partnership with consultant group Cradle-to-Cradle will drive PPR Home to challenge traditional approaches and proactively re-think and re-consider product and business development, the company said. The Cradle-to-Cradle concept believes that ‘good design’ of products and services should move beyond typical measures of quality–cost, performance and aesthetics–to integrate and apply additional objectives addressing environmental and social concerns.
"In uniting its brands behind the PPR HOME initiative, PPR can make a unique contribution towards finding sustainable solutions and has an opportunity to reconsider products and services as a means to challenge the present way of doing things," said Jochen Zeitz, PPR Chief Sustainability Officer.
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