Zara owner Inditex sets plans towards a more sustainable model

Spanish retail group Inditex, which includes fashion brands Zara, Pull&Bear, and Stradivarius, has set ambitious sustainability targets at its annual general meeting, including a goal to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2040.

At the AGM, which took place on July 11, Inditex chief executive Óscar García Maceiras said the group would focus on cutting emissions along its value chain by 50 percent in 2030 as part of its net zero goals, as well as expand its circularity projects and pursue new biodiversity initiatives.

In his speech, García Maceiras called the new sustainability targets “extremely ambitious, albeit just another step in the work the company has been doing for many years now”.

Innovation and collaboration are at the heart of its new targets, added Inditex, to advance towards an increasingly sustainable value chain. This includes pledging to ensure it uses 100 percent lower-impact fibres by 2030 by using materials created through technological innovation, recycled textiles and raw materials grown using organic and regenerative farming practices.

Inditex announces ambitious sustainability targets

This will be delivered by ensuring that around 40 percent of the fibres used by the Inditex brands will come from conventional recycling processes, while roughly 25 percent will be “next-generation” fibres, some of which will be scaled up in partnership with start-ups identified through the Inditex Sustainability Innovation Hub, and another 25 percent will derive from organic or regenerative farming practices.

In addition, the retail group said it wants to continue extending its circularity initiatives, such as Zara Pre-Owned, which is available in the UK and will be rolled out in France, Germany and Spain this year. Its goal is to introduce circularity services such as these in its key markets by 2025.

It is also looking to support projects for the protection, restoration or regeneration of up to 5 million hectares, so helping to upgrade their biodiversity. The company states it has already sealed strategic alliances with organisations such as the WWF, for which it has pledged more than 10 million euros for the restoration of endangered ecosystems in Europe, Asia, Africa and South and Central America.

Inditex also aims to improve its supply chain through a social and environmental transformation with its ‘Workers at the Centre’ strategy, and its Environmental Transformation Programme centres around water, discharges, chemical product management and energy. The strategy will reach three million people in its supply chain between 2023 and 2025.

García Maceiras added in a statement: “The new sustainability targets mark a qualitative step forward in our roadmap towards profitable and responsible growth. “These ambitious new goals will unquestionably help transform and improve the textile sector and industry and reflect the hard work we have been doing across all areas of the company in recent years.”