Puma has unveiled 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.
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.
In a statement, Puma’s French parent company PPR called Puma's new accounting approach “a groundbreaking methodological approach to measuring and costing their use of ecosystems and their ecological footprint. This is the initial step to measuring the full economic impact on ecosystem services by Puma and its supply chain and the delivery of the first-ever Environmental Profit and Loss (EP&L) account statement. PPR Home will take a leadership role in building understanding and support for this corporate shift, encouraging others within the industry to share Puma's pioneering efforts towards fully-integrated reporting.”
The accounting initiative is part of a larger sustainability program, called PPR Home, aimed at reducing PPR's impact on the environment. PPR plans to invest €10 million (U.S. $14 million) a year on the sustainability plan. PPR also owns numerous luxury brands such as Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Alexander McQueen. The initiative is being led by Jochen Zeitz, Puma's longtime CEO who last year also took on the role of PPR's chief sustainability officer.
The program features four areas of focus: Leadership (encouraging a shift in corporate thinking); Humanity (enhancing the social, economic and environmental wellbeing of communities where PPR operates); Ecology (reducing PPR's environmental footprint); and Creativity (creating sustainable solutions).
As part of the program, PPR is launching a Creative Sustainability Lab to focus on green design in partnership with eco-label certification body, Cradle-to-Cradle.
Among initiatives already underway is the launch of a Creative Sustainability Lab, which is working with Cradle-to-Cradle eco-label certification to ensure product development also takes environmental and social concerns into consideration. PPR has also achieved “carbon neutrality” by offsetting last year's CO2 emissions from its Luxury group, Puma and corporate headquarters.
“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; set the pace for a new, more sustainable consumerism; redefine sustainable shareholder value; and build businesses that meet the needs of an evolving society,” Zeitz said.
Franz Koch, the brand's chief strategic officer, will succeed Zeitz as Puma's CEO in mid-April. Zeitz has been promoted to oversee the sports lifestyle division of PPR. Puma is the only brand in the division, but PPR plans to grow the segment augment through acquisitions.
