Pablo Isla, chairman and chief executive of Zara parent company Inditex, recently declared that all of the conglomerate’s Chinese stores will be eco-efficient by 2018.
Speaking last week at an institutional meeting in Beijing with Chen Ji, the Chinese minister for environmental protection, Isla highlighted the company’s commitment to the Asian market and presented the sustainability plan that Inditex is implementing worldwide.
Specifically, he explained how the company’s eco-efficient store model can reduce energy emissions by 30 percent and cut water consumption in half. He also announced that China will be the first country in the world to fully execute the program in both new and existing stores—a full two years before other markets.
Inditex—which also owns Pull & Bear, Massimo Dutti and Bershka—first entered China in February 2006 and today has more than 500 stores throughout 63 cities.
According to a statement released by the fashion company, Isla underlined the importance of investing in the country’s organic cotton farms as well as the importance of undertaking the right sourcing actions in the supply chain by seeking the best resources for the entire lifecycle of the products. He also spoke of the company’s renewable energy policy in the logistics platforms and warehouses.
In addition, he presented Chen with details of the Recycle2 Project, which aims to collect and recycle goods at the end of their lifecycle, and mentioned his personal commitment to sharing with China both this experience and the work developed in relation to environmental protection.
As part of the same visit to Beijing, Isla met with He Junke, chairman of All China Youth Federation (ACYF), an organization that is working with Inditex to reconstruct and renovate 10 schools in the rural areas of Fengshan in northwestern Guangxi and Heqing in southern Yunnan.