Planet
We’re committed to protecting the natural world by taking bold action on climate change and conservation.
We’re committed to protecting the natural world by taking bold action on climate change and conservation.
As the climate crisis accelerates, so must bold action to combat it. We believe that our Company and the global economy will be stronger in a low-carbon future. This is why our goal is to reach net-zero emissions by operating our business in a responsible manner. In 2015, we joined with other business leaders through The B Team, a nonprofit coalition of business leaders who have established similar long-term goals and are supporting a just and inclusive transition to a thriving, net-zero economy.
Tiffany’s climate strategy is three-pronged: to reduce, avoid and offset our greenhouse gas emissions. We also use our voice to advocate for and elevate the urgency of climate action and promote environmental responsibility.
Our first priority is to reduce energy use and emissions by improving our operational efficiency. From 2013 to 2019, we reduced our emissions per square foot by 21%. We also took steps to: convert the lighting in our retail stores and certain manufacturing and distribution facilities to more energy-efficient LED lights; adopt more efficient design in line with LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification; install energy-efficient heating and cooling systems; and make other energy efficiency investments.
Our second priority is to avoid emissions by using clean, renewable energy. In Fiscal Year 2019, 84%* of our global electricity use came from clean, renewable sources, including purchased renewable electricity and solar energy generated by Tiffany.
Our short-term goal is to reduce emissions by 15% from 2013 through 2020, regardless of how much our business grows. We are on track to exceed that goal through a combination of our energy efficiency initiatives and renewable energy sourcing.
The final piece of our strategy is to offset the operational emissions we are unable to reduce or avoid. Every year since 2017, we have supported a high-quality carbon-saving project outside our business, through our annual investment in a forest conservation and sustainable development initiative in Kenya’s Chyulu Hills.
Forests are vital to humanity and our planet—providing clean air and water; mitigating climate change; reducing the impacts of floods; providing wildlife habitats; and directly supporting approximately 1.6 billion people who depend on forest ecosystems for food, fresh water, clothing, medicine and shelter. But forests are also threatened: every minute, approximately 85 acres are destroyed, which means we lose millions of acres each year.
To help halt forest destruction, we are dedicated to sourcing sustainable packaging and catalogues. Beginning in 2004, Tiffany started requesting third-party certifications for our blue bags, with a preference for Forest Stewardship Council™ (FSC™) certification—the premier standard in responsible forestry management—and started requiring all new global print suppliers to have FSC™ certification. In 2015, we set our sights higher with a new goal to remove commodity-driven deforestation from our key wood and paper supply chains by the end of 2020. To meet this goal, we worked closely with the Rainforest Alliance to create formal guidance for sustainably sourcing wood and paper products. In 2019, 100% of our catalogues and marketing collateral and 100% of our consumer packaging was also sustainably sourced. Our Tiffany Blue Boxes and bags are also made with at least 50% recycled content.
Tiffany places a high priority on excellent design, including in our stores. Behind the beauty of our buildings are sustainable design elements which reduce our overall environmental impact; reduce our costs; and support employee and customer wellness at retail, office, distribution and manufacturing facilities. As of June 2020, 16 of our new and renovated retail stores in our Asia-Pacific region received LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver or Gold certification, demonstrating excellence in sustainable building design and construction.
Tiffany & Co. is committed to powering a more sustainable future with the goal to ultimately use 100% of our global electricity from renewable sources. In 2006, we installed our first solar array and in 2018 we added a fifth location to host an on-site solar installation at our manufacturing facility in the Dominican Republic. This project includes a solar array consisting of over 1,200 solar panels that can generate approximately one third of that facility’s electricity consumption. In 2019, we expanded our existing on-site solar installation at our manufacturing facility in Cambodia, which can now generate approximately one third of that facility’s electricity consumption. Our other on-site solar locations include Rhode Island and our two office and distribution facilities in New Jersey. As we evaluate opportunities to expand our renewable energy portfolio, we continue to seek options to generate more on-site solar around the world.
We believe that climate action is a moral and a business imperative. Climate change impacts our employees, our customers and our shareholders and we support a sustainable future for the planet on behalf of every community we reach. We are active in the movement to combat climate change and use our voice to advocate for responsible climate policy and the importance of protecting biodiversity.
Tiffany & Co. is proud to join with the other members of the business community in the U.S. and globally to call for climate action. We believe that together we can call for change and demonstrate that climate action is good for business. Since the U.S. began considering a withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement in 2017, we joined other business leaders to call for the U.S. to continue climate action through signing onto the We Are Still In open letter.
Building on past efforts, in 2020, we joined with other businesses to virtually lobby the U.S. Congress for a COVID-19 recovery plan that enables the nation to rebuild sustainably. We lobbied to support public policies aimed at advancing our economy and protecting society’s most vulnerable citizens, while facilitating a net-zero emissions future.
As a company, we feel it is our responsibility to use the power of the Tiffany brand to lead powerful conversations about climate change. We speak out and raise awareness during critical moments that directly affect the planet and our communities. In 2017, we placed an ad in The New York Times urging the U.S. to not withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement. In late 2019 and early 2020, we continued that tradition when devastating bushfires decimated millions of acres of land in Australia. We placed full-page ads in two of the country’s prominent newspapers to raise awareness of the connection between the bushfires and climate change and to call on the Australian government to take urgent climate action to help reduce future bushfire risk and protect the nation’s people and wildlife.
We also monitor our memberships to ensure we do not associate with groups that oppose important climate change efforts. In 2009, we resigned from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over our disappointment in their approach to legislation and regulatory efforts to address climate change. We screen all of our memberships against an InfluenceMap list of groups known to reject climate science or undermine responsible climate policy around the world. In 2015, we added a question about climate policy to our annual Political Spending Disclosure questionnaire, sent to major trade associations.
In some places, preserving natural beauty means protecting landscapes from mining activity. After more than 180 years in the industry, we know there are certain places where mining cannot be done without forever destroying landscapes and harming wildlife and communities. As a company that sources metals directly from mines in the United States, we believe that we have a role to play in protecting landscapes across the U.S.
Since 1995, when we opposed a proposed gold mine that would have threatened Yellowstone National Park, we have been using the power of our voice to help protect places that have a high value to the environment, the cultural traditions of indigenous people or local economies across the United States. Over the years, we have spoken out to oppose a proposed copper and silver mining project in the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness Area near the Idaho-Montana border; and we have voiced our opposition to the proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay, home to one of the world’s greatest remaining wild salmon watersheds.
In addition to advocating for the protection of critical landscapes, we are vocal about reforming outdated U.S. legislation for the mining sector so that it better protects the public lands we all enjoy.
Our dedication to protecting the natural world lies at the heart of Tiffany culture, and since 2000, The Tiffany & Co. Foundation has supported the preservation of landscapes, seascapes and critical species.
The Tiffany & Co. Foundation’s mission is to preserve the world’s treasured seascapes and landscapes. From the Wildlife Conservation Society’s ocean conservation work in the western Pacific Ocean’s Coral Triangle to Trout Unlimited’s abandoned mine reclamation in the western United States, the Foundation has helped preserve some of nature’s most precious resources. 2020 marked the 20th anniversary of The Tiffany & Co. Foundation, supporting organizations that aim to protect precious places for generations to come. In that time, The Tiffany & Co. Foundation has awarded USD $85 million in support of the iconic landscapes and seascapes that have inspired its work.
Tiffany & Co. has also invited its customers to be a part of its philanthropic efforts while building awareness to protect threatened species. As part of our continued commitment to sustainability and conservation, Tiffany donates 100% of the profits from the Tiffany Save the Wild collection to the Wildlife Conservation Network and its innovative species funds to save endangered and vulnerable wildlife. Since its launch in 2017, we’ve donated more than USD $8 million to help protect elephants, rhinos and lions. With this sum, Tiffany helps to put an end to the illegal poaching and trafficking of these iconic species and combat the illicit ivory trade.
At Tiffany, our approach to sustainability underpins all areas of our business.