Sustainable success with luxury: Mytheresa
What began in 1987 as a boutique called Theresa in the centre of Munich, Mytheresa is now one of Germany's most successful e-commerce companies and the world's leading online retailer of luxury goods, shipping products from over 200 designer brands to more than 130 countries. The company has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange since 2021 and is continuously growing.
To develop its business model as sustainable as possible, Mytheresa has made a commitment to achieving ambitious environmental, social, and governance goals. Since 2021, Mytheresa has been working with ClimatePartner to develop and implement an effective climate action strategy by calculating the company's carbon footprint. This makes it possible to identify emissions reduction potential and determine reduction measures. Company-related greenhouse gas emissions are included in the calculation: shipments of goods to customers, returns and packaging, all scope 1 and 2 emissions, and a portion of scope 3 emissions.
The result: most of the emissions are caused by shipping and transporting products in scope 3, the company's core business. Mytheresa has therefore set itself the goal of reducing emissions in this area. For instance, they entered a partnership with DHL to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in international freight transport by financing and using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) instead of conventional jet fuel. Further reduction measures include
- Procuring 92% of total electricity consumption from renewable electricity
- Certification of energy-efficient buildings
- Offering sustainable packaging to customers and removing plastic parts from standard packaging, such as the Mytheresa paper labels, where a protective layer of plastic has been removed
- Including decision-makers in climate action activities
- Involving and educating customers in topics relevant to climate action
- Converting the in-house vehicle fleet to electric vehicles
- Providing a charging infrastructure for employees
- Creating incentives to use public transport
For any remaining emissions, Mytheresa finances climate projects certified by the Gold Standard.
As a globally operating company, it was important for Mytheresa to select projects in different parts of the world using various technologies:
„Der Klimawandel ist eine der größten Herausforderungen, denen sich die Luxusindustrie heute stellen muss, und Mytheresa ist weiterhin fest entschlossen, unsere Auswirkungen auf die Umwelt zu reduzieren. Mit der Unterstützung und Expertise von ClimatePartner berechnen wir unseren CO2-Fußabdruck und unterstützen Gold-Standard-Projekte. Eine nachhaltigere Plattform zu werden ist eine Reise und kein Endziel. Wir planen, unsere Aktivitäten im Einklang mit unserer Philosophie der kontinuierlichen Verbesserung nachhaltig weiterzuentwickeln. Dies gibt uns die Möglichkeit, unseren Kund:innen einen tieferen Einblick in die Produkte zu geben, die sie kaufen, und Wege aufzuzeigen, um bessere und informierte Einkäufe zu tätigen.“