At COP 15, LVMH announces ambitious new initiatives to promote biodiversity, in line with its environmental objectives

Protecting biodiversity is essential for all the activities of the LVMH Group, whose main raw materials come from nature in its six sectors of activity. While the fight against global warming is obviously a major issue, it is complementary to the strong challenges and impacts related to the preservation of ecosystems. Convinced that companies have a decisive role to play in this area, LVMH and a delegation of its Maisons are presenting their main actions to safeguard biodiversity at COP 15 in Montreal, Canada, and are continuing their dialogue with stakeholders.

At COP 15, which is taking place from December 7 to 19 in Canada, LVMH is announcing several initiatives in line with the Group’s commitments to biodiversity:

• LVMH is strengthening its cooperation with UNESCO – initiated in 2019 – on projects aimed at minimizing the consequences of climate change on biological diversity and improving the resilience of ecosystems. A new component of the partnership will be dedicated to measuring and evaluating the activities carried out, to study how the programs conserve biodiversity and benefit local communities, particularly in the Amazon basin.

• Since November 9, LVMH has been an active member of the TNFD (Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures) forum.

This consortium of over 750 partners includes a wide range of institutions. Its mission is to develop a specific risk management framework by enabling its members to better map positive and negative actions related to nature to help guide their strategic planning and asset allocation decisions. By joining the TNFD forum, LVMH will participate in the development of standards.

As part of its Biodiversity plan, LVMH, now a partner in the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance (CBA), is unveiling two new action programs:

• One in the Amazon, to restore forest cover in the southern Ecuadorian Amazon and the northern Peruvian Amazon, while supporting and strengthening the development of a regenerative economy in indigenous Amazonian communities.

The main objective of the project, in collaboration with Reforest’Action, is to restore forest ecosystems, promote natural medicine and food security for the local communities.

• The other in Chad, already unveiled at COP 27, aims to address one of the major challenges of the African continent. This large-scale agroforestry initiative in Lake Chad is part of the Great Green Wall project.

Supported by LVMH, the CBA Living Lab – created in 2020 by His Majesty King Charles III when he was Prince of Wales – is proposing new sustainable and regenerative methods of cotton production in Chad that restore biodiversity while creating economic opportunities for the local population.

These initiatives reinforce the commitments already made by the Group in its environmental program, LIFE 360:

• LVMH plans to have zero sourcing in areas at high risk of deforestation or desertification and to have 100% of its strategic raw materials certified according to the most demanding standards for the preservation of ecosystems and water resources by 2026.
• The Group has set itself the goal of regenerating 5 million hectares of wildlife habitat by 2030 and has begun to deploy regenerative agriculture programs for strategic agricultural raw materials such as grapes, cotton, wool or leather, as well as contributing to the collective effort to regenerate ecosystems and preserve particularly endangered animal or plant species. In total, 657,000 hectares have already been preserved or regenerated by 2021.
• More mobilized than ever on the issue of animal welfare, LVMH continues to deploy the charter published in 2019 by actively working with suppliers.

GROUP SPEAKING AGENDA (local time, Montreal, Canada)

Representatives of the Group and its Maisons will take part in the following events:

Friday, December 9, from 4:30 to 6:00 pm (Place Québec Auditorium, action zone, Palais des Congrès): “Business contributions towards the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework: learnings from sourcing collaborations and actions across value chains”

• This roundtable, organized by OP2B (One Planet Business for Biodiversity), Textile Exchange, UEBT (Union for Ethical BioTrade) and LVMH, discusses lessons learned from sourcing collaborations and actions in value chains.
• Speaker from LVMH: Cécile Joucan, Group Biodiversity Project Manager.

Sunday, December 11 from 2:30 to 3:15 pm (Working group room 2, Palais des Congrès): “A Global Dialogue on Strengthening the Links between Nature and Cultures to Achieve a Sustainable and Ecological Civilisation”

• This roundtable, organized in the framework of the COP 15 Nature and Culture Summit, addresses how the new phase of the joint program strengthens the links between nature and culture in the conservation and sustainable use of natural areas, including through the use of traditional knowledge.
• Speakers from UNESCO and LVMH: Hélène Valade, Group Environmental Development Director, regarding the new joint work program on the links between biological and cultural diversity.
• To follow remotely: https://cbd.int/live

Monday, December 12 from 2:30 to 4:30 pm (Multi-purpose room, 2^nd floor, Palais des Congrès): “Greening Value Chains”

• This roundtable, organized as part of the COP 15 Business and Biodiversity Summit, presents the main challenges and solutions to address the impacts of value chains on biodiversity.
• Speaker from LVMH: Hélène Valade, Group Environmental Development Director.
• To follow remotely: https://cbd.int/live

Wednesday, December 14 from 8:30 to 10:30 am (Humaniti Hotel): “Nature Data Lab: Agri-food sector”

• This workshop, organized as part of the sessions organized by TNFD (Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures), focuses on the opportunities and challenges of deploying the TNFD framework, particularly in the agricultural sector.
• Speakers from LVMH: Alexandre Capelli, Group Environmental Deputy Director and Sandrine Sommer, Chief Sustainability Officer at Moët Hennessy.

Thursday, December 15, 3:00 to 3:45 pm (Business and Finance Hub): “How can companies reduce their impacts and dependencies on nature?”

• This round table, organized by ORÉE, presents the importance of measuring impact and the power of flowers in the regeneration of ecosystems. ORÉE is an association created in 1992 which federates and animates a network of more than 180 members (companies, local authorities, professional and environmental associations, academic and institutional organizations…) to exchange and set up an environmental dynamic for the benefit of territories.

• Speaker from LVMH: Isabelle Sultan, Global Sustainability Director at Parfums Christian Dior.

Friday, December 16 at 6:15 pm (Cangshan Room, 513C, Palais des Congrès): “UNESCO Earth Network, a programme to strengthen the role of UNESCO designated sites in the implementation of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework and the 2030”

• This round table is organized by UNESCO.

LVMH, a partner of UNESCO MAB (Man and Biosphere), is testifying on a panel dedicated to UNESCO’s “Earth Network”, a program aimed at strengthening the role of designated sites in the implementation of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.

• The main objectives of the program revolve around:

– Support for the management, restoration and resilience of ecosystems in UNESCO-designated sites (or sites in the process of being designated), through training and the exchange of experiences and good practices;

– From mitigation and adaptation of ecosystems to the effects of climate change;

– Support for youth and local communities to make transformative changes in values and practices.

• Speaker from LVMH: Alexandre Capelli, Group Environmental Deputy Director.

• During the whole COP 15 (Palais des Congrès):

LVMH continues its support for the arts in favor of the environment with the artwork “Econario” by artist Thijs Biersteker in scientific partnership with UNESCO MAB.

Displayed at the heart of COP 15, in a 180m² space on the 2^nd floor between the conference room and the press rooms, this creation will wilt or grow (up to 5 meters high) daily according to the commitments made to protect biodiversity, like a “thermometer” measuring the progress of the summit’s discussions.

COP 15 marks the Group’s second collaboration with the artist, who has already been invited to present “Wither” on the joint LVMH and UNESCO pavilion at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress in Marseille in 2021.

LVMH’S COMMITMENT TO BIODIVERSITY

LVMH’s biodiversity strategy, which is part of the LIFE 360 program (LVMH Initiatives for the Environment), is structured around four areas:

1. Build a clear and accurate measure of our biodiversity footprint
2. Avoid and reduce impacts on ecosystems
3. Commit to animal welfare
4. Regenerate ecosystems

In this context, LVMH and UNESCO have been working in collaboration since 2019 within the intergovernmental scientific program MAB (Man and Biosphere), which aims to conserve and sustainably enhance biodiversity across the planet. This scientific program, in which LVMH is the only private partner, is an innovative framework for international cooperation and aims, beyond the preservation of protected areas, to implement good practices for sustainable development in line with the United Nations objectives.

This ambition is taking shape in the field with a joint project with five million euros of funding over five years to fight deforestation in the Amazon.

The first two years of the program have seen very concrete progress with more than 41 projects already deployed, the most notable of which is the implementation of a geospatial database to compile and monitor all field data as well as forest cover monitoring. Training sessions were held in three biosphere zones, notably to accelerate the deployment of agroforestry. In Bolivia, in the Beni biosphere zone, nurseries were opened in 2021, allowing the production since 2022 of more than 10,000 seedlings for four local communities.

THE LVMH GROUP MAISONS IN ACTION

Parfums Christian Dior is working locally to perpetuate flower cultivation in the region, as in Grasse with the Fleurs d’Exception du Pays de Grasse growers, who have helped revive floral know-how and have it listed as UNESCO intangible heritage, as well as to cultivate flowers in a regenerative way and to reintroduce them into agricultural ecosystems

The Maison is collaborating with UEBT (Union for Ethical BioTrade) in particular and is committed to certifying 100% of its 42 gardens and partner gardens around the world as organic and/or regenerative by 2030, as well as progressively certifying field crops (notably beets, the source of the alcohol for its fragrances). The company is also collaborating with HECTAR agricultural campus on a proof of concept on the value of introducing flower crops into food farms.

Guerlain, with its ambitious environmental strategy, has deployed a program dedicated to the preservation of bees, in particular through the “Women for Bees” program in collaboration with UNESCO and the OFA (L’Observatoire Français d’Apidologie – The French Observatory of Apidology). This beekeeping entrepreneurship program for women is designed to train new beekeepers, create new beekeeping operations around the world in UNESCO biosphere reserves and measure the benefits of pollination.

The diversity of bees helps maintain the overall ecosystem in the Tonle Sap Biosphere Reserve in Cambodia.

Two species of native bees – the giant Asian bee (Apis dorsata) and the red dwarf bee (Apis florea) – are essential to the production of fruit and seeds from the submerged forest that borders the lake, the largest permanent freshwater lake in Southeast Asia and a crucial carbon sink.

Guerlain has also entered into a three-year sponsorship agreement with the French Committee of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to produce the Red List of Threatened Species of wild bees in France. Identifying the threats to bees and measuring the rate of decline will help inform the general public and alert public authorities to take concrete action to protect them.

Finally, the theme of living soils is at the heart of Moët Hennessy’s environmental and social program. The quality of the products of the Wines and Spirits Maisons depends on the health of the soils in its terroirs and the know-how inherited from the founders of these emblematic companies. As part of the Living Soils Living Together program, the Moët Hennessy Maisons have stopped using herbicides in their own vineyards and have begun to deploy regenerative agriculture, such as the practice of covered soils or the introduction of polyculture. This desire for change is illustrated in particular by the organization by Moët Hennessy in June 2022 in Arles of the first edition of the World Living Soils Forum, whose objective is to mobilize and act for living soils. This unprecedented event brought together a hundred experts from around the world who are passionate about and committed to the protection and regeneration of soils.