Sustainability Approach
Sustainability is deeply ingrained in Tiffany & Co.’s core values, and we have had a formal program in place with clear sustainability priorities for over a decade.
Strategic Sustainability
Our approach to sustainability is guided by our desire to create industry and societal change. Beyond integrating responsible business practices throughout our core business, we endeavour to advance these changes through transparency, advocacy, engagement and philanthropy. Our strategy is anchored in three fundamentals that aim to ensure relevance, accountability and continuous improvement in our programs: we regularly engage stakeholders to understand their priorities, maintain a well-established system of governance principles and accountability structures and periodically undertake a formal materiality analysis to further refine our strategy.
On our journey to becoming the next generation luxury jeweller, we continue to operate our business in a responsible way by strengthening our environmental, social and governance efforts that will foster long-term benefits for our Company, our clients, our employees, our business partners and broader society.
Sustainability Materiality & Our Priorities
We periodically undertake a sustainability materiality analysis to refine our strategic approach to operating our business in an environmentally and socially responsible way. We conduct this assessment approximately once every five years, and we undertook our third materiality analysis in 2018, during which we engaged with more than 600 internal and external stakeholders. The results of this analysis guide the Company’s sustainability work across our pillars of Product, People and Planet in an effort to create the greatest positive change.
The results of our 2018 materiality analysis indicated the following focus areas:
● Biodiversity & Ecosystems
● Diversity & Inclusion
● Human Rights and Labour Practices in our supply chain
● Traceability
● Transparency
Other key topics included:
● Energy and Climate
● Environmental Topics in our supply chain (including land management, waste and recycling, and water stewardship)
● Living Wage and Local Hiring in our own operations
● Philanthropy
● Recruitment, Development and Retention
Based on these results, we refined our sustainability priorities and strategy and developed a roadmap for the coming years. This approach helps us embed sustainability throughout our business, from material selection and responsible sourcing to our corporate, manufacturing and retail operations.
2025 Sustainability Goals
In fall 2020, Tiffany launched its 2025 Sustainability Goals, a set of bold commitments centered around three pillars: Planet, Product and People. Building on Tiffany’s legacy of sustainability leadership, we’ve integrated these goals throughout our Company to enable us to achieve progress towards our commitments over the next five years.
Using the focus areas that resulted from our most recent sustainability materiality analysis as our guide, we established our 2025 Sustainability Goals with a robust, inclusive process that engaged employees across regions, teams and levels. We also invited review from leading civil society organisations to ensure we set high standards and drive sustainability in the jewellery industry and beyond.
Our 2025 Sustainability Goals are aligned with the United Nations Global Goals Framework to ensure that we address the most significant societal challenges identified by the international community.
Building off of a decade of metrics-driven sustainability reporting, Tiffany will report progress toward our 2025 Sustainability Goals.
Learn More About Our 2025 Sustainability Goals
Importance of Governance
Over the past decade, we have integrated sustainability throughout our Company through a strong accountability system. From 2009 through 2020, this system included oversight from the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Committee of the Board of Directors, and today continues to include oversight from our Chief Sustainability Officer, who sets our strategic sustainability agenda along with the CEO and Senior Management.
As part of our ongoing efforts to embed sustainability throughout the business in 2020, we began including sustainability as a formal element of our employee performance management processes for managers and above. We also have policies and practices to guide our operations, including policies on ethical conduct, political contributions and lobbying.
The Tiffany & Co. Internal Audit Department provides independent, objective assurance and control advisory services to the Company to evaluate the effectiveness of risk management, control and governance processes.
We place the utmost value on ethics and have established training programs to help ensure that employees at every level of our Company conduct themselves and their work in line with our high expectations. We offer a global AlertLine and other reporting mechanisms for employees, suppliers and all of our other stakeholders, as well as a dedicated Global Compliance and Privacy team within Tiffany’s Legal department, to help ensure accountability.
Stakeholder Engagement and Dialogue
We hold our stakeholders—including our employees, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), industry members, supply chain partners and clients—in high regard and seek diverse viewpoints to help evolve our practices and identify opportunities for improvement across the jewellery sector. Over the years, we have developed strong relationships with many organisations whose insights help improve our understanding of environmental and labour issues affecting the industry. We take a strategic approach to engaging our stakeholders and are committed to working with a variety of organisations, including those that challenge us. We believe this benefits our Company’s operations and positively influences the jewellery industry and our partners along the supply chain.
Government Engagement
For more than 25 years, Tiffany has periodically engaged with the U.S. government to encourage responsible, forward-thinking policy with a focus on responsible mining and climate change. This has included calling on the U.S. government to reform the antiquated General Mining Law of 1872, taking a stand against dangerous mines in treasured places such as Pebble Mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay, and supporting actions focused on the provenance of precious materials such as coral, rubies and diamonds. We are also proud to provide a business voice in support of strong climate action.
Our approach is focused on responsible mining and environmental issues that are priorities for Tiffany, and areas where we believe that our voice can make an impact. In addition to direct engagement with policy makers on these issues, we speak out through op-eds and public position statements, including advertising placements. We also join with other business voices in statements supporting actions that we believe are in the best interest of our stakeholders and our business, on issues ranging from climate change and biodiversity to equality and inclusion.
To further our commitment, we enacted our Principles Governing Corporate Political Spending Policy in 2011, and we continue to report annually on our website on our political expenditures, including expenses for lobbying and political expenditures made by major trade associations (where the Company’s dues were used for such expenditures). Tiffany has not established and will not establish a political action committee to solicit employees for personal political expenditure. And, as a matter of course, we do not engage in political expenditures, though we acknowledge each employee’s right to make personal political expenditures.
We are proud to use the voice and power of the Tiffany brand to encourage action on issues of importance to Tiffany, and to call for change where we believe it is in the interest of our stakeholders and our business.
View Our Political Spending Policy
Forward-looking Statements
Tiffany & Co. sustainability reporting, including documents or reports incorporated on Tiffany & Co.’s Tiffany.com/Sustainability website by reference, contains certain “forward-looking statements” concerning Tiffany & Co.’s goals, plans and projections with respect to corporate responsibility, sustainability, employees, environmental matters, policy, procurement and business risks and opportunities. In addition, Tiffany & Co. may make other forward-looking statements concerning sustainability objectives and expectations, including its 2025 Sustainability Goals. One can identify these forward-looking statements by the fact that they use words such as “believes,” “intends,” “plans,” “strives,” “seeks,” “commits,” “pledges,” “anticipates,” “estimates,” “scheduled,” “may,” “will,” “can,” “should” and “expects” and other words and terms of similar meaning and expression in connection with any discussion of future sustainability initiatives, goals and objectives. One can also identify forward-looking statements by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results and are based on Tiffany & Co.’s current views, assumptions and plans, and involve inherent uncertainties and assumptions, many of which are outside of Tiffany & Co.’s control, that could cause actual outcomes to differ materially from its current views, assumptions and plans. Tiffany & Co.’s forward-looking statements are not guarantees or promises of future results (including that any initiatives, goals or objectives, such as our 2025 Sustainability Goals, will be met). The statistics and metrics included in Tiffany & Co.’s sustainability reporting may be reported as estimates and may be based on assumptions or developing standards. The standards and codes of conduct for third-party suppliers are not guarantees that suppliers will follow the codes in any or all instances, and suppliers bear responsibility for meeting Tiffany & Co.’s standards and expectations. Actual results may differ materially from any forward-looking statement.
Although Tiffany & Co. believes that it has been prudent in its plans and assumptions, no assurance can be given that any sustainability initiative, goal or plan, including our 2025 Sustainability Goals, set forth in forward-looking statements can or will be achieved and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements. Tiffany & Co. undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking information in our sustainability reporting and disclosures, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in sustainability objectives and expectations or otherwise.
Our Sustainability Pillars
At Tiffany, our approach to sustainability underpins all areas of our business.