• Business is on track to reduce its carbon emissions by 35% per product for 2027 as pledged;
  • 50% of Bollé Safety’s top sellers and 100% of the company’s new products will have an eco-friendly version in 2025;
  • Business also pledges to achieve a 5% reduction of its static impact on biodiversity by 2027, following a first-of-its-kind biodiversity footprint assessment.

12th December 2023 – Bollé Safety, the leading global brand in the PPE eyewear market with over 20 million wearers across the world, has today unveiled the results of its latest ESG report. The first progress report since the announcement of the Bollé Brands Group new ESG strategy in early 2023, the business has made significant progress in recent months to future-proof the organisation in a number of areas including reducing its environmental footprint, the development of eco-friendly versions of its top selling and new products underpinned by a robust biodiversity footprint assessment and a comprehensive set of social and governance initiatives throughout their operations.

In an important move towards environmental accountability, Bollé Safety has announced a groundbreaking addition to its ESG report for 2023 — a comprehensive biodiversity footprint assessment. This assessment lays the groundwork for targeted strategies to address historical and current impact on biodiversity and the company has set a a bold target: to reduce its impact on biodiversity by 5% across all scopes by 2027. To achieve this, Bollé Safety has identified two key levers to minimise the impact of its products and packaging:

  • Reducing CO2 emissions: The company is committed to a 35% reduction in CO2 emissions per product by 2027, a target officially recognised and certified by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). Bolstered by recent efforts, Bollé Safety is poised to achieve this goal, having already reduced emissions per product by up to 8% compared to 2021 metrics, highlighting the company’s dedication to a more sustainable approach to their portfolio and supply chain. This milestone is primarily attributed to a deliberate reduction in air freight across operations and will be followed by a robust action plan to ensure meeting the 35% reduction per product by 2027.
  • Embracing eco-packaging: Striving to adopt 95% eco-packaging by 2024, primarily utilising recycled or FSC-certified paper and cardboard. This commitment underscores Bollé Safety’s drive to minimise its environmental footprint and align packaging materials with sustainable practices.

These strategic initiatives represent a significant commitment by Bollé Safety to proactively address biodiversity reduction. Through these initiatives, the company reaffirms its dedication to environmental stewardship and responsible corporate citizenship.

Expanding its focus beyond environmental commitments, Bollé Safety is deeply invested in enhancing social and ethical practices, aiming to make positive impacts throughout its entire value chain. Noteworthy initiatives include:

  • Ethical Supply Chain Practices: Embracing the principles of the United Nations Global Compact, Bollé Safety has achieved significant milestones in ethical supply chain practices. As of March 2023, nearly all (96%) suppliers within the value chain have endorsed the Bollé Safety Code of Conduct, setting high industry standards for strategic business partnerships. The company diligently assesses compliance through a robust ethical supplier control program. The goal is to achieve 100% supplier commitment to the Code of Conduct by the end of 2023. Moreover, Bollé Safety’s recent receipt of the prestigious EcoVadis Gold Medal for its European division, places the organisation amongst the top 5% of companies assessed by EcoVadis in more than 175 countries worldwide, and underscores Bollé Safety’s dedication to sustainability and responsible business practices.
  • ESG culture development: Recognising the pivotal role of its workforce, Bollé Safety is committed to cultivating an ESG-focused culture within the company. With a pledge to provide ESG training to 100% of its employees by 2024, the company is reinforcing the importance of Environmental, Social, and Governance principles. Additionally, the appointment of 15 ESG ambassadors reflects the dedication to fostering this culture across the organisation on a global scale.

 Speaking on the publication of the report, Peter Smith, CEO of Bollé Brands and President of Bollé Safety said: “As a company we’re extremely proud of our long-standing heritage, but also have a very deep-felt sense of responsibility for our future. We are committed to leading our industry when it comes to sustainability and are proud to have set an ambitious new standard for ourselves and for our peers as we continue this journey. Our efforts are not only focused on reducing our impact on the environment, but also on taking things a step further to ensure sustainability is a core value at all levels of our business, our work, our industry, and our supply chain. We’re constantly looking for new opportunities to create value. I’m proud of our team who show up every day committed to make these efforts a reality, and the advances shown on this year’s report are a testament to their work.”

Anne-Sophie Francois, Vice President of Brand for Bollé Safety said: “At Bollé Safey, sustainability is woven into the fabric of our organisation – looking to deliver on our trademark combination for performance, fit and comfort through an increasingly future-focussed and sustainable imperative in all that we do. Our new sustainability report truly highlights our team’s drive and commitment to be beyond the standards set by our industry and our peers, taking efforts one step further to truly make a positive impact for future generations. It is great to see the huge advancements we have made throughout these last months come to life in this latest report, and also important to remember the road we still have ahead to keep driving sustainable innovation forward. I’m very much looking forward to the exciting announcements we have coming up as we continue to lead the way into the future towards a greener, more sustainable protective eyewear industry.”

 Quentin Chapelain, ESG Manager at Bollé Brands Group said: “Our sustainability efforts over the last years evidence our commitment to a comprehensive, ambitious but action-led and achievable strategy that wishes to promote real change across our business, our industry and our supply chain. At Bollé Safety we know that for these efforts to be concrete, we must be able to measure and track our footprint and our progress scientifically, which this report can attest to. We also know that for change to be significant it must be led by every single employee in the business, which is why culture and training are key aspects of our ESG strategy. I’m delighted to see such positive, significant results throughout these last few months, and I’m excited to look to the years ahead. We know the sustainability challenges we face as a society are massive, so we will continue to do our part as a business to deepen our action to meet these challenges.”

 Looking forward, sustainability remains a key priority for Bollé Safety. Anticipating a series of significant announcements, the company is in the midst of a transformative phase, redefining product ideation, development, and distribution strategies with sustainability as a core element. The fiscal year 2023 marked a crucial phase in the company’s ESG journey, aligning with its ambition to achieve B Corp certification in 2024. These initiatives underscore Bollé Safety’s unwavering commitment to sustainability, ethics, and responsible business practices, setting the stage for continued advancements and impactful changes within the organisation and beyond.

The full report can be accessed here.

About Bollé Safety:

Created more than 130 years ago in France and present in England in the past 58 years,, Bollé Safety is the world leader in eye protection in PPE (Personal Protective Equipment). A subsidiary of the Bollé Brands group, a key international player in its market, Bollé-Safety offers a wide range of innovative, comfortable, designer eye protection adapted to each market segment (construction, health, energy, heavy industry, defense, clean rooms, automotive, office automation…) and increasingly eco-designed. In more than 100 countries, the brand equips 20 million workers with products that improve their performance and well-being, whenever there is a risk to the eyes and face and even in extreme environments. Bollé Safety is also a benchmark in the prescription eye protection market (nearly 40 years of experience) and offers customization services and tailor-made solutions. Since 2021, Bollé Safety has accelerated its CSR approach covering the measurement of its impacts, product, and packaging innovations as well as internal commitments.

Paula Cerruti
Senior Account Manager

REPUTATION-INC.COM
+353 (0) 85 722 3668
pcerruti@reputation-inc.com