The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) on Wednesday, October 16, 2019 announced its first private sector partnership – a significant non-earmarked contribution to the IPBES Trust Fund by the global luxury group, Kering.
“The message from science is clear,” said Dr. Anne Larigauderie, Executive Secretary of IPBES, “to properly protect nature and nature’s contributions to people, we must build a globally sustainable economy. This requires the evolution of global financial and economic systems – and this can only be achieved working in partnership with all responsible decision-makers, in Government but also very critically, in the private sector.”
IPBES says it will use the contribution to support all areas of its work to strengthen the evidence base for better-informed decisions about nature – from policy support activities and capacity-building, to the generation of new knowledge, outreach and ongoing expert assessments.
Speaking about the partnership, Marie-Claire Daveu, Kering’s Chief Sustainability Officer and Head of International Institutional Affairs, said: “The luxury industry has the power to play a pivotal role in leading the shift towards a sustainable future. Kering is proud to collaborate with IPBES and the work they have already accomplished. This partnership is part of a broader approach to support science and research in order to have a science-based framework to inform our decisions. We need to act now by finding ways to give back to nature what it is offering us on a daily basis.”
In January 2019, Kering was ranked as the second most sustainable company in the world, across all industries, in the annual Corporate Knights Global 100 Index – measuring more than 7,500 companies with sales of more than $1 billion on 21 indicators related to corporate social responsibility.
The company led the creation this year of a Fashion Pact – 32 major companies from the fashion and textile industry that are working to reduce the environmental impact of their businesses. Kering’s Animal Welfare Standards, published in May, are also the first-ever set of full standards covering animal welfare for luxury and fashion – to drive positive industry change.
“This is the first step in what we expect will be a long and fruitful partnership with Kering, hopefully also inspiring many other private sector members to partner with IPBES,” said Dr. Larigauderie. “There are no viable, long-term solutions to halt or reverse the degradation of biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people that don’t also include the collaboration and active engagement of business.”
