We believe that, in the future, timeless and sustainable products are made in balance with the environment, in line with the principles of the circular economy. Our goal is to constantly reduce the carbon footprint significantly in our entire value chain.
The main environmental impacts of our own operations are related to the in-house textile printing factory in Helsinki, Finland. In addition, the majority of the emissions during a product’s life cycle comes from activities outside our own operations in the value chain, for example during the production of materials, during logistics, in the factories making our product as well as when the products are used.
For partner suppliers’ environmental practices, such as management of emissions, effluents, and waste as well as handling of chemicals, the requirements are set in Marimekko’s Supplier Code of Conduct. The company’s sourcing teams regularly gather and assess information about environmental impacts in the supply chain in order to plan future actions.
We have launched several projects to significantly reduce emissions in our entire value chain. In addition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the company’s entire value chain, we finance climate protection projects based on the remaining emissions from certain emission sources. Read more in Marimekko’s year 2022 publication.
In addition, we aim to:
- reduce greenhouse gas emissions from own operations -40% by the end of 2025
- reduce greenhouse gas emissions from sourced textiles -20% by the end of 2025
- reduce greenhouse gas emissions from logistics -50% by the end of 2025
- reduce water scarcity score of sourced textiles -50% by the end of 2025
2019 figures used as a baseline, except for logistics, which uses 2018 figures.
The carbon footprint of Marimekko’s value chain
Marimekko has launched several initiatives to significantly reduce emissions throughout its value chain. In 2022, Marimekko committed to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) to set sciencebased, even more ambitious targets for emissions reductions throughout its value chain in line with the UN Paris Climate Agreement. Marimekko will set the new science-based emissions reduction targets in accordance with the schedule of the SBTi within two years. In order to measure progress against its sustainability targets, Marimekko calculates greenhouse gas emissions from the entire value chain (Scopes 1–3) annually in line with Greenhouse Gas Protocol standards (GHG Protocol).
The calculation showed that the direct emissions from our own facilities and vehicles (Scope 1) and indirect emissions of our purchased energy (Scope 2) represent less than one percent of our emissions, while 99 percent of our emissions result from other indirect emissions in our value chain (Scope 3).
Most of the Scope 3 emissions originate from purchased goods and services, the use of sold products, and logistics.
As the vast majority of our emissions originate from indirect sources, the results emphasize the need to address greenhouse gas emissions throughout our value chain; from the cotton field all the way to the use and eventual disposal of a product.
The main means to reduce emissions from logistics are optimizing transportation routes and choosing lower-emission modes of transport. We continuously seek lower emission alternatives for the delivery of our products, and finance climate protection projects based on the remaining emissions from all outbound e-commerce deliveries to Finland. In addition, our logistics partner DHL Express finances climate protection projects based on the calculated emissions of Marimekko’s e-commerce deliveries to the rest of Europe.
Significant share of greenhouse gases emitted during the lifetime of a long-lasting garment relates to its care, including machine washing, drying and ironing. We recommend greener care for our products and provide several practical ways to lower emissions from product care in our care guide.
Long-lasting and sustainable materials
We want to create items that truly last in use, and thus a key consideration for us when choosing materials is their quality and longevity. Through material choices we can reduce the environmental impacts in our upstream value chain, and therefore we are committed to increasing the share of more sustainable materials in our products and packaging.
The rollout of this material strategy started in the beginning of 2021 and the results started to be visible in the 2022 collections. The aim of the new material strategy is to reduce the environmental impacts of our textile materials, such as greenhouse gas emissions and water usage. To achieve these goals, the strategy introduces product category specific targets that shift our material portfolio towards more sustainable alternatives, such as organic, recycled, and bio-based materials, as well as new material innovations. We are committed to sourcing 100 percent of our cotton as more sustainable cotton by the end of 2023. More sustainable cotton includes Better Cotton, organic or in-conversion cotton, and recycled or traceable cotton.
To support responsible sourcing of different materials, we have established Marimekko’s Product Policy that defines our sustainability requirements for the materials and their production processes and bind our suppliers Product Policy can be found on the guiding principles page.
Marimekko was the first Finnish company to join the international Better Cotton in 2013. Better Cotton’s mission is to help cotton communities survive and thrive while protecting and restoring the environment. We source mainly Better Cotton, which is grown by around 2.4 million cotton farmers in 23 countries or areas around the world, for example in India, Brazil, Africa, the United States and China.
In 2022, more sustainably produced Better Cotton accounted for 81 percent of all cotton sourced by Marimekko. We are committed to sourcing 100 percent of our cotton as more sustainable cotton by the end of 2023. More sustainable cotton includes Better Cotton, organic or in-conversion cotton, and recycled or traceable cotton. Better Cotton is sourced via a chain of custody model called mass balance. This means that Better Cotton is not physically traceable to end products, however, Better Cotton Farmers benefit from the demand for Better Cotton in equivalent volumes to those we source.
The cotton we use comes from different parts of the world, for example, from India, Brazil, the United States, Turkey and Pakistan. We do not accept materials from very high-risk areas. We define very high-risk areas in our Product Policy, which binds our suppliers. You can find Product Policy on guiding principles page. We require our suppliers to annually provide information about the origin of the cotton they use.