Global leader in luggage and travel accessories Samsonite today announced its new ambitious sustainability goals and aspirations to reduce the company’s environmental footprint. This includes a new goal to reduce Scope 3 emissions from purchased goods and services by 52 percent by 2030 based on 2022 levels. This should greatly enhance the use of recycled content through the Samsonite portfolio, an important milestone since Scope 3 emissions account for the largest proportion of emissions in the company’s carbon footprint.
According to the latest sustainability report from Samsonite, Scope 3 sources account for the largest share of its greenhouse gas emissions, which include purchased goods and services, mainly raw materials used for internal manufacturing. This accounts for almost 80% of the company’s total carbon footprint. Samsonite will increase the recycled content in its materials, such as plastics and aluminum, which will decrease emissions associated with production.
A globally applicable new intensity reduction emission target measures per unit gross profit that will apply across the business to American Tourister, Tumi, High Sierra, Gregory, Lipault, and Hartmann in addition to Samsonite. The company’s reduction target has also been sent off to SBTi, which has accepted validation through scientific underpinning in climate action.
Marina Dirks, Vice President and Global Head of Sustainability at Samsonite, referred to a steady progression on the use of recycled materials since 2018. “Since we launched our first product using recycled materials, we have been continuously integrating them across more product components as well as collections,” Dirks said. She believes that the company will be able to reach the goal of reducing emissions by 2030 with the already available solutions which proved their efficiency in decreasing emissions.
Samsonite is working on renewable electricity across all its stores, factories and distribution centers, as well as offices to outside scope 3. In the year 2023, the company has actually surpassed its target ahead of the two-year period earmarked for achieving that status. Compared to a baseline date in 2017, operational carbon intensity was 85 percent lower than such in 2020. But more importantly, it had been working towards its operation energy efficiency and decarbonization.
“We are proud to use our leadership position to forge a path toward a more sustainable future,” said CEO Kyle Gendreau, adding that Samsonite remains committed to durability as it engages with suppliers to further its use of lower-carbon and recycled materials