"Naturally Creative"- Louis Vuitton's Social Responsibility

"Every one of us is responsible for protecting the environment. Following
our conviction that simple actions make big differences, Louis Vuitton
hopes to reconcile human creativity and the environment to favour
sustainable development."

Yves Carcelle,
Louis Vuitton President

The Louis Vuitton company has been committed to protecting the environment and reducing their carbon footprint for years. According to their website, Louis Vuitton "[as a part] The luxury industry, which is synonymous with beauty and excellence,must strive even harder than others to be exemplary in preservation of the
environment." In 1992, LVMH chairman and CEO, Bernard Arnault, created a directory board for the environment.

He renewed this committment in 2001, when he signed the "Environmental Charter," which requires each division of the company to create a management system dedicated to the environment, and to monitoring that division's activities' impact on the environment. The charter's goal is to continue improvements so that the Louis Vuitton company can minimize the impact of operations on the environment, to encourage a collective commitment both inside and outside the company, and to organize the company in ways that guarantee its environmental performance.

In light of their renewed environmental commitment, Louis Vuitton conducted a carbon inventory study for their business, operations, and productions. The results showed that the majority of the CO2 emissions came from shipping their products by air. The company decided to reduce the amount of transporting by air, in favor of transporting their products by ship. Transportaion by sea is creates forty times less pollution than by air. In 2006, Louis Vuitton increased the amount of goods shipped by sea to sixty percent, compared to forty percent in 2004.

Additionally, the Louis Vuitton headquarters now uses eighteen less electricity, and their new and refurbished stores now use thirty percent less energy than the old stores did. They also eliminated their use of plastic wrapping for deliveries, which led to saving twenty tons of plastic. They also eliminated the practice of "intermediate" packaging, that is packaging for transportation from workshops to stores. This effort has saved over 100 tons of packaging.

It is obvious that the Louis Vuitton company and LVMH as a whole is committed to protecting and preserving the environment. We should all follow their lead in an effort to create a cleaner, more beautiful environment for future generations.