Puma reveals environmental profit and loss analysis
09/10/2012
It said by making consumers aware of the costs and benefits, it can educate their buying choices and help them make “more sustainable choices”.
The study compares a pair of biodegradable InCycle Basket shoes and a biodegradable cotton T-shirt with a pair of the conventional retro Puma suede shoes and a conventional cotton T-shirt.
It found that the biodegradable products cause 31% less environmental impacts than their conventional counterparts. The analysis focused on greenhouse gas emissions, waste and air pollution and the use of natural resources such as water and land along the value chain from the generation of raw materials and production processes to the phase when customers use, wash, dry, iron and dispose of the products.
The study concludes that the environmental impacts of the conventional shoe amount to €4.29 per pair, while the environmental impacts of the biodegradable shoe are only €2.95.
“Just as the calorie and nutrition information table on your cereal box helps you compare the dietary impacts of one breakfast choice to another, our new environmental profit and loss analysis helps you to judge whether one shoe or shirt is more environmentally friendly than another,” said Puma’s chairman, Jochen Zeitz. “Our job is not only to lessen the impact our products have on the environment, but also to engage our customers and help them make better and more sustainable choices for the benefit of our planet.”
Alan McGill, a partner at accountancy PwC, which was involved in the research, said: “By putting a value on even one product’s environmental impacts, it brings into sharp focus the debates over commodity pricing, natural resource security and supply. Even as an emerging methodology, it challenges conventional business thinking – and consumers’ views – on how we measure and monitor the embedded environmental value and impacts of what we buy.”
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