Louis Vuitton 2008 Annual Report Download - page 65

LVMH010_2008_GB:Mise en page 1 24/03/09 11:14 Page 66
Protecting the environment
Protecting the environment is a long-
standing goal for LVMH. It became
strategic in 2001 when Bernard
Arnault signed the Environmental
Charter and it was renewed in 2003
with the signature of the Global Pact
initiated by Kofi Annan. In 2008, the
Companies launched concrete
measures: the setting of environ-
mental objectives, ISO 14001 certifi-
cation, the construction of green
buildings, completion of Carbon Foot-
prints, and deployment of eco-
design.
Motivated employees
Since 1992, the date the environmental depart-
ment and the first LVMH environmental
committee were created, the Group has worked
to promote a group-wide approach. The Envi-
ronmental Charter is intended to be adopted by
the various Group companies, which are to make
it specific within each company based on their
own operations. Not only have the companies
all made a commitment to an environmental
management system, but many have formed their
own environmental committee in order to deploy
the approach internally. This was the case in 2008
at Domaine Chandon California, which formed
its "Green Team" in January to relay the Group's
measures to all its employees and combine infor-
mation on the company's efforts in this area.
Celine also created its own environmental
committee, known as "CIEL", which promotes
and reports on the progress of the action plan
that it is applying at its two corporate offices and
at its production center in Florence. In June, Le
Bon Marché launched an environmental commit-
tee, which includes no fewer than fourteen repre-
sentatives from the various store sectors. Known
as Cosmos, this committee developed an action
plan for 2009. The House had already conducted
an energy audit, and used the results to set a
target to reduce energy consumption by 20%.
Guerlain is also working under its new sustai-
nable development committee, focusing on four
priorities: eco-design, relations with suppliers,
eco-citizenship and transport. Objectives and
tools to track measures have been established for
each of these priorities.
Increased awareness also included conferences,
training and the creation of specific tools. For
example, Parfums Kenzo has organized theme
lunches or discussed the issue during breakfast
orientation sessions for new employees. The
company has also placed on its Intranet site its
sustainable development charter or the results
of the Carbon Footprint, and a questionnaire
encouraging employees to make a personal
commitment to an improvement or to express
their opinions on the issue.
After sharing its Environmental Charter with all
its employees at its 2007 annual convention,
Parfums Christian Dior in September 2008 orga-
nized a mobilizing event: Environment Week.
On this occasion, all 1,400 employees were able
to participate in a discovery-circuit and confe-
rence-debates illustrating consideration of the
environment in Parfums Christian Dior busi-
nesses, as well as entertaining workshops on
biodiversity, natural raw materials, sorting waste,
or eco-driving. Each quarter the projects and
progress are shared in the in-house newsletter
My Dior.
On April 22, 2008, Earth Day, DFS launched a
major campaign aimed at increasing awareness
of climate changes. Each store had a display coun-
ter with more than one hundred ways of redu-
cing one's carbon footprint. Each employee and
PASSIONATE ABOUT CREATIVITY 63