Climate change increases water scarcity and uneven distribution of water resources. We want to do our best to decrease the water consumption in our value chain and cut the water scarcity score of our textile materials per kilogram of sourced textiles to half by the end of 2025 compared to baseline year 2019.
Increasing the share of organic and recycled materials and new material innovations will help us to reduce the use of water in the upstream of Marimekko’s value chain. Water use can also be reduced in our own operations by improving water efficiency at our printing factory, and in the downstream of our value chain by washing our products less often at home.
In 2023, the water scarcity score of our sourced textiles decreased by 33 percent compared to 2019, which is the baseline year of our target. The decrease is due to the increased share of recycled and organic cotton as well as the decreased overall share of cotton in Marimekko’s material base. The water scarcity score takes into account the blue water consumption in the cradle-to-gate production of textiles and the water scarcity of the region where water is consumed. The score is based on Higg MSI 3.7 data at Higg.org.
Our own printing factory holds an environmental permit which sets conditions e.g. for the quality of our wastewaters. We monitor wastewater emissions from the printing factory regularly, and in 2022 there were no exceedances of the limit values. Compliance with our environmental permit is also monitored through annual reporting and inspections.