Air freight generates the majority of Chanel’s transportation emissions and says it’s shifting to routes and carriers with lower emissions in situations where air freight is “unavoidable”. However, the only specific goal listed for moving away from air freight is for 80 per cent of fragrance and beauty products in the Asia Pacific region to be shipped by sea by 2024.
“Chanel integrated its climate ambitions in a recent RFP process as part of the selection process for freight partners. We are working together with our suppliers to shift to more sustainable modes of transport, such as road or sea freight instead of air,” said Wylie, but there is no company-wide goal for use of sea freight. “We have different goals for each of our businesses depending on their specificities.”
On materials, Chanel takes an “eco-responsible approach through the choice of materials”, highlighting as an example the Chanel Cruise 2021/22 collection featuring four “eco-responsible tweeds” — yet it does not specify how much of its total tweed use is sourced in this way.
When asked, Wylie said: “Regarding the percentage of eco-tweed or eco-responsible fabric, it depends on the collections. As an example, the Cruise 2021/22 collection offered 28 eco-responsible fabrics out of 108.” Among these fabrics were four “eco-tweeds”, which Chanel says means the threads were either organically grown or contained a minimum of 20 per cent recycled fibre composition.
Information on other materials, including leather, a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation and other environmental impacts, is also not disclosed. Asked about efforts on Chanel’s leather supply chain, Wylie said Chanel has been focused on leather, silk and cashmere in recent years and that it has made efforts to “improve the quality of the sector, on traceability, sustainable development and animal welfare”, but did not share specifics.
Chanel’s reference to scope 3 emissions being driven up in part “by an increase in digital media activities” was also surprising, Stand.earth’s Cook says. It shouldn’t considerably “move the needle” on scope 3 emissions within Chanel’s overall business model, he adds (noting that Zara-owner Inditex also reports its data centre footprint). While Chanel mapped out a list of factors contributing to its scope 3 emissions including raw materials, packaging and transportation, it only named an increase in digital media as part of the reason for the increase. However, that could be because it was the newest source of increased scope 3 emissions, not necessarily because it accounted for a significant portion of them. Wylie did not respond to a request for a percentage, saying only, “digital activity has an impact on any business’s carbon footprint, and we consider it vital to have a solid understanding of it.”
