At Arvind, ‘Fundamentally Right’ has always been our credo. We understand that modern businesses must embody responsibility and purpose beyond just financial gains. This understanding is the cornerstone of our corporate philosophy. ESG is not just a buzzword but a guiding ethos that informs our every decision and action. It underscores our commitment to balance profit with purpose and to be a force for positive change.
We consistently take up initiatives that are positively influencing people's lives and making a difference to planet's health. We are committed to operating in a sustainable and responsible manner, and we believe that ESG factors are central to this commitment. We are also aware that our stakeholders are increasingly interested in ESG performance, and we want to be transparent about it.
In order to communicate transparently to our stakeholder on material issues we reanalysed and validated our materiality assessment by incorporating the concept of Double Materiality.
Materiality is the compass by which we navigate our journey towards sustainability. It serves as the convergence point for the concerns and insights of both internal and external stakeholders. As the world is moving towards Double Materiality, we recognise its vital importance in today's rapidly changing world. The concept of Double Materiality focuses on the impact driven by the organisation on the environment and society and the impact driven by the environment and society on the organisations.
In FY 2022-23, we performed a double materiality assessment to gain insights into our impact on the external environment and its ESG risks and opportunities. The following steps were performed:
After consolidating the results from the assessment, the following key material issues were identified:
The issues identified represent the very heart of our commitment to ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) principles. It's here that we connect the dots between our operations, value chain, products, services, and their profound impact on society and the environment. For more details on the materiality assessment refer to our Materiality Assessment Report
Water and Fibre are both key issues for our stakeholders. As a leading textile manufacturer, it is important that we evaluate the potential positive and negative impact of these issues. Having successfully implemented Zero Liquid Discharge and utilizing solely recycled water in our manufacturing processes, the next significant area where water has a substantial impact is in our fibre sourcing operations. Fibre sourcing also has an impact on the environment.
Output Metric: In order to understand the impact of our sourcing operations, the two metrics that we use are Net Fresh Water Consumption per kg of cotton and percentage of sustainable cotton sourced.
Impact Valuation: For assessing our impact on Human health and Ecosystem quality, we used the Natural Capital Protocol. For more details refer: https://capitalscoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Arvind-Pilot-Application.pdf
Impact Metric: Based on the impact valuation, for every kilogram of Better Cotton sourced, we have assessed a health cost avoidance of $0.009, and ecosystem quality gained of $0.31. Thus for the FY 2023-24, we supported avoiding $407,709 in health cost and gained $14,043,310 worth of Ecosystem quality.
To learn more about our ESG initiatives and performance, please click on the links below:
We engaged Intertek India Private Limited, a third-party organisation to provide independent assurance of our Materiality Assessment, Environmental KPI’s and Social KPI’s. Intertek has provided assurance in accordance with ISAE 3000 – limited assurance. Read the assurance statement with Intertek's independent opinion below:
With humanity at an important crossroads of sustainability, the fashion industry continues to be in the crosshairs of sustainability, and with good reason. Despite increased awareness and concerted efforts on a global scale in recent years, fashion continues to account for 8 to 10% of global carbon emissions and is a major contributor to biodiversity loss. While the diagnosis of the current situation may appear unflattering, my prognosis is that we, as an industry, now have the momentum to effect positive change on a global scale.
For over a decade now, through our 'Fundamentally Right' philosophy, we have systematically embedded the core tenets of sustainability across key focus areas of our business such as – fibre, water, energy, chemical, waste, money and people. This philosophy, based on the 'Sustainable-In-Sustainable-Out' principle, has become a driving force for innovation at Arvind. Be it energy efficiency, water conservation, product portfolio or people processes, we see innovation as the prime mover for sustainable change.
A few of our notable sustainability-driven innovations and innovation-driven sustainability outcomes include:
INNOVATION IN TRACEABILITY
In partnership with Textile Genesis, we created fibre-to-retail traceability for our denim using path-breaking digital Fibrecoins™ technology. The platform enables digitisation and traceability of all textile assets such as fibre, yarn, fabric or garment through Fibrecoins-blockchain-based digital tokens.
Arvind is well-placed to not only be an active participant, but also lead the change in a few places
INNOVATION IN COTTON FARMING
We have collaborated with fellow Fashion for Good partners, Materra, Kering and PVH Corp, on a consortium project to grow climate-resilient cotton in a sustainable way wherein water and fertiliser usage is reduced by 80%, and it is completely free of insecticides. Our structured efforts on promoting sustainable cotton farming, which includes regenerative, organic, inconversion organic and better cotton initiatives, have resulted in a three-fold growth in the number of farmers as well as the area under sustainable agriculture during the reporting period.
INNOVATION IN FIBRE MIX
We are enhancing the sustainability quotient of our fibre mix by innovatively incorporating alternate natural fibres and fibres derived from recycled pre-consumer waste.
PRODUCT INNOVATION
Khadi Denim is arguably the most sustainable Denim fabric with superior performance on all three parameters - Environmental, Social & Economic Sustainability. This product was adopted by Patagonia during the year 2021-22.
INNOVATION IN WATER
We are collaborating with GAP Inc. to set up an 18,000-square-feet Centre of Excellence for Water in India. The Centre will showcase water-management best practices and recycling technologies.
INNOVATION IN CSR
Along with the environment, our teams also leverage innovations to enhance the outcome of our CSR programmes. Gyanda, our flagship education programme, that mentors children studying in municipal schools, transitioned during the pandemic to a digital model and extended its reach from just the urban poor to include even the rural poor.
ALL OUR INNOVATIONS ARE CHANNELLED TO CREATE A SUSTAINABLE ECOSYSTEM FROM FARM TO FABRIC.
Just like our focus on innovation, our efforts towards becoming net-zero continue unabated. In February 2022, we signed the SBTi (Science Based Targets initiative) commitments and are in the process of determining our science-based targets. We have also initiated the process of formulating a relevant internal price of carbon for Arvind. This will help drive carbon considerations deeper in our business operations.
To know more about Arvind's ESG ambitions and performance, do read the report. I look forward to your feedback and innovative ideas on how we can collaborate to fashion more possibilities and turn them into sustainable realities.
Regards,
Sanjay S. Lalbhai
Chairman & Managing Director