Parfums Christian Dior has shared its Beauty as a Legacy 2030 strategy, outlining the company's roadmap to mitigate its impact on the planet and communities over the next eight years.
It comes as the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report warns it's "now or never" to address the climate emergency.
Building on the foundations of LVMH's Life 360 Frame of Action for Sustainability launched last year, Parfums Christian Dior's Beauty as a Legacy strategy details how the maison is stepping up to address global challenges, and to increase transparency and accountability in the decade ahead.
The strategy is built on five key pillars, with a focus on unlocking the power of flowers to regenerate ecosystems and protect biodiversity, in addition to tackling the climate emergency, addressing responsible beauty, advancing innovations in eco-design and seeing positive change through cultural influence.
"Today, we stand at a turning point. With more than half of global economic value generated dependent on nature and ecosystems, it's clear that action is needed to protect nature and create a regenerative future," said Parfums Christian Dior president and chief executive officer, Laurent Kleitman.
Harnessing the regenerative power of flowers
Parfums Christian Dior's strategy builds on its extensive experience in Grasse in the south of France over the past 15 years, where it has strived to regenerate flower farming in the cradle of perfume, working hand in hand with 10 specialist growers that are committed to organic cultivation practices.
To stimulate innovation and investment towards flowers for regeneration, Parfums Christian Dior is launching a comprehensive biodiversity impact assessment this year – as well as a local footprint assessment focused on the Grasse region – to identify the key levers of biodiversity regeneration and economic development. Using Grasse as a blueprint, the maison aims to demonstrate how the cultivation of its signature ingredient gardens creates a positive and sustainable source of economic growth for local communities that can be used as a model for its other territories.
The brand has also announced its new partnership with Hectar, the world’s largest agricultural campus dedicated to regenerative cultivation at the gates of Paris, to launch a scalable education program focused on regenerative flower farming by 2023. The partnership will feature a start-up incubator and research programs, aimed at exploring the impact of flower farming on ecosystems, and its interaction with other kinds of cultivation to promote synergistic ecosystem benefits, alongside scientific research institutions.
Blossoming new, more sustainable ways of operating
In addition to its focus on regenerative flower cultivation, Parfums Christian Dior’sBbeauty as a Legacy strategy also outlines the maison’s actions in four other key pillars including:
Climate
Parfums Christian Dior has set ambitious, science-based targets to reduce its carbon footprint across its value chain (-46% reduction against scope 1, 2 and 3 in absolute terms, by 2030 compared to 2019), aligning with the ambitions of the Paris agreement to limit global warming to +1.5°c.
The maison is transforming its production engine to reduce emissions across its full value chain. Today, all of parfums Christian Dior’s French sites are already powered by 100% renewable electricity, with an aim to achieve 100% renewable energy – including biogas – by 2023.
Eco-design
The brand is raising the bar in normalising circularity, including refillable packaging across its iconic lines (Sauvage, Rouge Dior and Prestige), therefore aligning these practices with a new sense of desirability. This includes transforming its products to end the use of virgin fossil plastic by 2028 and offering clients 100% of all packaging as refillable (for highly loyal products) or recyclable by 2028.
Responsible beauty
Building on its legacy of excellence in product, Parfums Christian Dior is increasing its responsible sourcing and transparency, including updating formulas in line with its existing responsible formulation charter. The maison has also incorporated key transparency information on dior.com for over 1,000 of its products, providing clients with information about ingredients and their role in each product, to help better inform their purchase.
Cultural responsibility
Parfums Christian Dior is working to harness its influence to positively shape culture by championing diversity through its products and brand communication. With a workforce that has over 50% of women in company key positions, Parfums Christian Dior is empowering women in its organisation to thrive by bridging the gender pay gap and enforcing dropout prevention policies, such as broadening the coverage of staff with parental leave.
The maison is also dedicated to preserving heritage and savoir-faire, increasing the number of cultural gardens, and advocating for the recognition of the deep-rooted expertise of its growers.
Parfums Christian Dior is working alongside LVMH to support its work with the business coalition one planet business for biodiversity (op2b) to accelerate the regenerative agriculture and biodiversity agenda, and with the French movement pour une agriculture du vivant, which LVMH joined in early 2022.
The maison is also investing in partnerships with leading organisations including unesco and its man and the biosphere programme, union for ethical biotrade (UEBT) and Hectar, to drive the scale needed to make an impact. Together, the partners are working hand-in-hand to shape a future that is regenerative.
Image source: dior.com
