The LVMH carbon fund was created in 2016, and is financed by contributions from the group’s labels, which pay a “tax” based on the greenhouse gas emissions generated by their business operations, production sites and stores. The sums collected are then used to fund projects designed to reduce the group’s carbon footprint, for example by building infrastructure which produces renewable energy.Last year, the world’s luxury goods number one had pledged to double its target, multiplying by two the price per ton of CO2 emissions – from €15 to €30 – which it asks as contribution from its labels. As a result, LVMH collected €11.3 million in 2018 to finance its 112 projects, enabling the group to “avoid generating nearly 2,500 tons of CO2 equivalent per year (for the useful life of the equipment installed in the year). This is equivalent to the annual emissions of 1,600 European households,” wrote the group in a press release.

The initiative is part of the group’s environmental policy, enshrined in the LIFE 2020 (LVMH Initiatives For the Environment) programme, one of whose objectives is to cut the group’s CO2 emissions by 25% by 2020. LIFE 2020 adheres to the directives set out in 2015 by the COP21 conference in Paris to fight climate change.