Spanish brand Mango gets SBTi approval for emissions reduction targets

The SBTi defines and promotes best practice in science-based target setting, offers resources and guidance to reduce barriers to adoption, and independently assesses and approves companies’ targets.

“It is excellent news for Mango that an internationally-recognised organisation like the SBTi has ratified and trusts in the our company's emissions reduction targets, now it is time for us to put all the necessary resources into achieving our annual targets in the short and long term, and to minimise our impact on the environment,” Toni Ruiz, Mango CEO, said in a statement.

Mango’s Strategic Sustainability Plan aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. To achieve this goal, the company has set itself intermediate targets for 2030: an 80 per cent reduction in its direct greenhouse gas emissions, as well as those generated by the energy it consumes (scope 1 and 2), and a 35 per cent reduction in the greenhouse gas emissions produced in its supply chain, products and services, and fuel and energy; and transport and distribution (scope 3), all considering 2019 as the base year.

In order to comply with its science-based targets, Mango has a cross-departmental action plan for the entire company. The policies to reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions are principally focused on areas such as energy efficiency, the purchase of renewable energy and the electrification of the company’s fleet of vehicles, among many others.

In 2021 the clothing group increased its total consumption of renewable energy with guarantee of origin by 19.5 per cent to 59 per cent of the total energy consumed. Last year, almost 100 per cent of the electrical energy consumed at its headquarters, warehouses and company stores in Spain was of renewable origin, as was 100 per cent of the energy consumed in virtually all company stores in Austria, France, Greece, the Netherlands, Italy, Poland, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Sweden and Switzerland, as well as its offices in France.

For its part, to reduce scope 3 emissions, Mango will focus on progressively increasing the number of garments with Committed characteristics within its collection, by prioritising sustainable or environmentally friendly materials such as recycled cotton, organic cotton, recycled polyester and cellulose fibres with traceable origin, among others, the statement added.

Last February, the company brought forward its sustainability targets after achieving that 80 per cent of all garments in 2021 were marketed under the Committed label. Mango also forecasts that by 2025, 100 per cent of the polyester used will be recycled, 100 per cent of the cellulose fibres used will be of controlled origin and traceable, and that 100 per cent of the cotton used will be more sustainable.

The Mango Sustainability Plan also envisages the participation and collaboration of numerous organisations and initiatives to minimise its impact on the environment. In 2019, the company reaffirmed its commitment to sustainability by signing up to the Fashion Pact, the first global movement in the fashion industry to join forces and work together to fight climate change, and in 2020 Mango signed the United Nations Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action, which sets out sixteen principles to advance together to reduce the impact of the fashion industry on the planet.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KD)