Foreword Anne-Laure Descours, CSO
In 2023 we started preparing our sustainability vision for 2030 by asking our most important partners and internal decision-makers to give us feedback on the sustainability topics that are most relevant for PUMA. The results are included in the materiality assessment published in this report.
In parallel, we accelerated the implementation of our FOREVER. BETTER. Sustainability Strategy, making progress towards achieving our 10FOR25 targets in Climate Action, Circularity, and Human Rights.
From a products and materials perspective, we produced eight out of ten products* according to our PUMA Sustainability Index, which means these products are made with materials that are classified as preferred fibres by Textile Exchange or originate from certified sources. In 2023, 99.7% of all leather was sourced from Leather Working Group-certified tanneries, 99.2% of all cotton was sourced from Better Cotton licensed farms or recycled and 99.4% of all paper and cardboard packaging was FSC-certified or recycled paper and cardboard.
In Circularity, we expanded take-back programmes in three new countries. Meanwhile, almost 65% of the polyester used for our apparel and accessories products came from recycled materials. We also started to scale up the use of recycled cotton, which reached 8.6% in 2023.
We published the results of our RE:SUEDE project, an experiment to turn a new version of our iconic Suede sneaker, into compost (under tailor-made industrial composting conditions) and expanded our RE:FIBRE programme to transform textile waste and other used materials into new textiles. During the Women's World Cup in Australia, the Swiss National Team played in RE:FIBRE jerseys, and our club partners re-launched the RE:FIBRE initiative by deploying new take-back bins in additional locations. Overall, 46,000 RE:FIBRE garments were produced in 2023.
To help fight climate change, we continued to source 100% renewable electricity for PUMA’s own offices, stores, and warehouses, with either renewable electricity tariffs or renewable energy attribute certificates. We also invested over € 2 million to electrify our PUMA car fleet and the first low carbon shipment tariffs with our logistics service provider Maersk were implemented for our most important sea freight routes between Asia and Europe. This has helped us to reduce our own carbon emissions by 85% (market-based, including the purchase of RECs) compared to our 2017 baseline, as well as our logistics emissions from sea freight by almost 50% compared to 2022.
In our supply chain, recycled material was up to 22% of the total material used for our products. Our core suppliers continued to transition to renewable energy with large-scale rooftop solar PV installations, REC purchases, and to transition boiler fossil fuels to renewable fuels. As a result, we reduced our absolute Greenhouse Gas emissions (for Scope 3 category 1) by 30% compared to our 2017 baseline and our core suppliers used 22% of renewable energy.
In 2023, PUMA joined Zero 100, a cross-sector membership-based research and intelligence organisation, to accelerate progress on Digital Supply Chain Transformation and the path to zero carbon emissions.
On the social side, more than 222,000 factory workers received training on sexual harassment at work, achieving our target three years ahead of schedule. As a long-term signatory to the Bangladesh International Accord on Building and Fire Safety, we also joined Accord Pakistan and a pilot to establish an Employment Injury Scheme in Bangladesh. Collectively, our PUMA employees contributed 57,000 hours of community engagement work around the globe to support educational, women empowerment, environmental, and sports activities.
Our efforts were recognised in several rankings and ratings such as the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark, the Platform Living Wage Financials Benchmark, Know the Chain, the Carbon Disclosure Project and being a finalist of the German Sustainability Award.
Despite this recognition, there are still many areas for improvement. We need to further strengthen our efforts in Human Rights, Climate Action and Circularity.
Following our Conference of the People in 2022, we created our Voices of a RE:GENERATION initiative. Empowering a cohort of four Young Voices to help PUMA identify key areas for improvement. Through various projects, the Voices are helping us to communicate in a way that resonates with the next generation, bringing new perspectives and challenging PUMA to think differently. The Voices have met several times with key players at PUMA to discuss the progress and challenges surrounding our FOREVER. BETTER. Sustainability Strategy and produced PUMA RE:GEN Reports; a podcast series created to engage and better communicate with the younger generation on PUMA’s FOREVER. BETTER. 10FOR25 targets. The Voices have also produced RE:HACKS (a social content series sharing tips with consumers on how to extend the lifespan of clothing and kicks). The Voices participated in our materiality assessment, giving input into what will shape PUMA's 2030 Sustainability Strategy.
There is only one Forever – Let’s Make it Better.
HIGHLIGHTS OF 2023
We continued to implement our FOREVER. BETTER. Sustainability Strategy working towards our 10FOR25 sustainability targets. We also started preparing for the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and of our next target cycle for 2030 with a new double materiality analysis.
Eight out of ten PUMA products globally were made with a significant part of recycled or certified materials, such as better cotton or recycled polyester.
In Circularity, we re-launched product take-back initiatives at selected stores of our major football club partners. At PUMA, we now operate take-back bins at our Headquarters Store in Germany as well as stores in the USA, China/Hong Kong, and Australia. We equipped the Swiss National Women’s Football Team with jerseys made from our RE:FIBRE initiative for the Women’s World Cup in Australia and launched product take-back bins at our stores in Switzerland.
In Climate Action, we agreed on a new more ambitious science-based greenhouse gas reduction target with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and published our first Climate Action Transition Plan. We continued to power our own offices, stores, and warehouses with 100% green electricity (including purchase of RECs) and added 92 electric cars to our PUMA car fleet. We decreased the air-freight ratio for the transport of our products to under 0.5% and started using biofuels for the shipping of PUMA products from Asia to Europe. We decreased our absolute Scope 3 emissions from the category purchased goods and services by 30% from 2017 to 2023, our core suppliers used 22% of renewable energy and almost 62% of the polyester used in our products is recycled.
In Human Rights, we made the payment of a fair wage a bonus relevant topic for PUMA's own staff and continued to track the payment of wages at our core suppliers. For our core supplier Tier 1 factories, the average payment is 12.7% above minimum wage. 222,933 factory workers received training on sexual harassment and 83,089 were paid a living wage on average. Our PUMA employees donated 57,000 working hours to community engagement work and we continued to focus on diversity and inclusion, for example by increasing the percentage of women on our management board to 50% and by becoming a signatory of UN Women Empowerment Principles (UNWEPs). Finally, we appointed a Human Rights Officer and worked on a Human Rights Handbook for our employees to be published in 2024.
In Biodiversity, we continued to partner with the Fashion Pact and Textile Exchange and supported the publication of a biodiversity landscape report for our industry. To ensure that the leather used for PUMA products does not contribute to deforestation, we joined the call to action launched by the Leather Working Group and Textile Exchange to source all bovine leather from deforestation-free supply chains by 2030 or earlier. Since 2022, almost all tanneries used for PUMA leather products have been certified by the Leather Working Group. For paper and cardboard, 99.4% are either FSC-certified and/or recycled, to avoid any link to deforestation.