Global Fashion Group (GFG) is a leading online fashion and lifestyle destination, serving customers in 17 countries and connecting a population of one billion potential consumers with thousands of global, local and own-brands via four established e-commerce platforms.
Each platform is operated under an individual brand name: Dafiti (in Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Colombia), Lamoda (in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine), ZALORA (in Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei) and THE ICONIC (in Australia and New Zealand).
In June 2021, GFG announced they had achieved carbon neutrality across operations and outbound deliveries and the use of 100% renewable energy across its nine fulfillment centres. This achievement is a first in GFG's markets, showing their commitment to take responsibility for their emissions and leading on climate action.
"We have reached an inflection point as a global community whereby the impetus for the transition to a low carbon economy is undeniable. We recognise there is much work ahead of us to reduce our footprint and therefore formailsing our carbon mitigation strategy is an important step to support our transition. While the purchase of offsets and renewable energy certificates will not distract us from true reduction efforts, they mark an important milestone in GFG's journey."
—Jaana Quaintance-James, Chief Sustainability Officer, Global Fashion Group
(Read more in GFG's Climate Report 2020)
GFG sought South Pole's help to achieve both their carbon neutrality and 100% renewable energy ambitions.
South Pole is GFG's carbon offset partner, provisioning international certified carbon credits to offset the emissions generated by their global operations and outbound deliveries. These carbon credits are generated from renewable energy projects in India, Brazil and China where GFG's operations and own-brand suppliers are based.
GFG also sought to procure Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) to cover the electricity used at their fulfilment centres where it was not possible to switch to a renewable electricity supplier. South Pole was able to connect GFG with REC projects in many of the countries where their operations are located, including a wind park in Chile and a solar project in Indonesia.
"We are proud to support Global Fashion Group's efforts to take responsibility for their greenhouse gas emissions. They have offset their emissions with high quality carbon credits from international emissions reduction projects certified to trusted global standards, creating real and notable benefits to the environment. "
— Tom Schroder, Head of Climate Action, South Pole
GFG chose a range of climate action projects across the globe to offset their emissions with some examples of these below.
Huóshuĭ Small Hydropower consists of 95 small hydropower plants. The small-scale plants range in capacity from 0.1 to 14 MW, and together supply enough renewable energy to power over half a million average Chinese homes each year. This also created a total of 960 jobs with 25% women employed more than 170 local farmers residing in surrounding villages participated in sustainable agriculture training programmes providing them increased income opportunities.
By harnessing strong prevailing winds, carefully located wind turbines generate clean electricity for the state grid. This helps to reduce the need for fossil-fuel generated electricity and increase energy security in India. The project installs and operates 396 state-of-the-art wind turbines across the whole state of Tamilnadu. This provides green electricity to support India's growing economy and also brings benefits, such as jobs and infrastructure to underdeveloped regions.
