Louis Vuitton 2006 Annual Report Download - page 67

In order to make products of excellence, the brands
in the Group use fine leathers, rare essences,
precious stones and even the best grapes. These
resources come from nature; they are intimately
tied to it and cannot be used without a concern
for protecting their source. Every year, the brands
innovate to integrate this dimension into the design
and manufacture of their products. This has invol-
ved going through many steps. The employees, who
have been trained in the issues, are motivated.
Accordingly, progress has been made to protect
nature by optimizing the use of natural resources,
reducing waste, and water and energy consump-
tion. The Group opens itself to suppliers, clients
and others in civil society to adopt a responsible
attitude together. The latest evidence of this
ongoing quest for excellence is the new Cergy ware-
house, which centralizes Louis Vuitton products
and reships them throughout the world; it was desi-
gned to meet the requirements of High Environ-
mental Quality.
MOTIVATED EMPLOYEES
The Environmental Charter asks each brand to
set up effective environmental management and
asks each President to make a commitment to obser-
ving it. Goal achieved. Now there are about fifty
environmental correspondents who have been
appointed in the various brands. They are the
contact persons of the environmental department;
some are specialists, others are not. To help them
be informed and better answer questions from their
staff members, the Group has set up a new training
module over the Internet, which addresses all the
company businesses and the best way to integrate
an environmental dimension into them.
The key to success of an environmental policy lies
in motivation and training, at all levels, starting
with the Presidents of the brands and the members
of the executive committees. To raise their conscious-
ness of the issues, the environment division has
Preserving the environment
has long been an important
issue for LVMH. It became strategic
in 2001 when Bernard Arnault
signed the “Environmental Charter”
and was renewed in 2003
when LVMH joined the Global
Compact launched by Kofi Annan.
Preserving
the environment
been sending them a newsletter, Attitude, since
winter 2006. The first issue addresses the topic of
greenhouse gas emissions assessment and its use
within the brands.
Under the aegis of the specialist Jean-Marc Jancovici,
who has supported LVMH for the past five years
and was involved in the last sustainable develop-
ment week, the consciousness-raising actions target
all levels of LVMH hierarchy. At Parfums Givenchy,
all employees can track the brands environmental
performance every day through a computer tool
that records, in real time, all environmental data at
the companys two sites. At Louis Vuitton, the envi-
ronmental policy has been very widely disseminated
at the headquarters and in the workshops. And at
Hennessy, every employee has clear and concise
pocket-sized safety data sheets that can be referred
to quickly at anytime to find out what precautions
must be taken for handling hazardous products.
To encourage employees to adopt an eco-friendly
attitude, environmental criteria were incorporated
into the profit-sharing agreements that were signed
in 2006 in Champagne. At Moët & Chandon, the
goal is clear: to reduce electricity consumption by
considering all the activities of the company. If the
goal is achieved, the amount of profit-sharing is
significant. At Veuve Clicquot, three environmen-
tal criteria have been adopted: water consumption,
energy consumption and the quality of waste
sorting.
TANGIBLE RESULTS
A comprehensive approach to the environment has
enabled us, in five years, to obtain tangible impro-
vements in combating the dangers that threaten
the planet, starting with one of the most worrisome:
the increase in greenhouse gasses. The preferred
tools are ISO 14001 certification, which guaran-
tees a well conducted strategy, and greenhouse gas
emissions assessment, which enables us to better
know the emissions of a company or a site to take
effective measures.
ENTIRE CHAMPAGNE-COGNAC DIVISION SOON TO BE ISO
14001 CERTIFIED
After Hennessy, which was certified in 1998, and
then Veuve Clicquot and Krug in 2004, SODEPA,
the wine-making subsidiary of Hennessy, which is
also in charge of managing its green spaces, was
certified in 2006. Moët & Chandon, which began
the process in 2005, is on the right track. Certifica-
tion should take place in the second quarter 2007.
The entire Cognac and Champagne division of
LVMH will then be certified.
At the same time, greenhouse gas emissions assess-
ments done at Hennessy, Veuve Clicquot, Parfums
Christian Dior and Louis Vuitton have enabled us
to identify priority areas for action. At Hennessy,
energy diagnoses have been done with support from
the French Agency for Environment and Energy
Management (ADEME) at the La Richonnne
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
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