Decathlon

Review summary

Decathlon submitted its 2022 materiality assessment, transition plan for 2022-2026, and 2022 Non-Financial Reporting Declaration to ‘It’s Now for Nature’ and met all the review criteria. Decathlon has also made additional biodiversity commitments as part of Act4nature.

Reviewed May 2024

In 2022, Decathlon conducted its second global biodiversity assessment.
Nature-related issues from the materiality assessment include: resources preservation and circular economy, transition for a low carbon economy, Natural Capital and Biodiversity, raw material prices and availability, energy efficiency and renewable energy use, and ecolabelling.
Decathlon also evaluated the terrestrial and aquatic pressures across its entire value chain. Examples of terrestrial pressures are land use, human encroachment, and pollution. Examples of aquatic pressures are hydrological disturbance due to climate change, water use, and freshwater eutrophication.

Decathlon’s 2022 Transition Plan includes clear commitments to protect nature by 2026.
Example targets Decathlon has set are:
1. 100% of cotton derived
from more sustainable sources since 2020 (recycled, BCI, organic cotton).
2. 95% of the materials used for packaging is derived from more sustainable and certified sources.
3. 100% of waste recovered through waste recycling and recovery
at all sites; stores and warehouses.

Decathlon’s concrete actions are found in their Non-Financial Reporting Declaration.
Decathlon’s actions help avoid, reduce, or compensate for the erosion of biodiversity along its value chain.
For example, they have achieved their target of ‘100% of cotton has been derived from more sustainable sources (recycled, BCI, organic cotton)’. 
Another example: As impacts on terrestrial and aquatic areas mainly comes from product manufacturing, circular business models encourage optimising the use of existing products throughout their extended lifetime instead of manufacturing new products.

The Board of Decathlon addresses all decisions with consideration of sustainability, as does the executive committee. A permanent board member and the Chief Sustainability Officer, who is also a member of the executive committee, both show the importance of this topic in key meetings.
Decathlon’s Board of Directors is the guarantor of the company’s long-term strategic vision. It defines the broad guidelines and ensures these are implemented while taking social and environmental issues into account.