Biodiversity and Water Management
Minimize the impact on nature capital and improve sustainability.
Action plan onward
- Complete the LEAP analysis and disclose the result in 2025 report.
Biodiversity Policy
Our biodiversity policy outlines the relationship between our business and biodiversity in areas such as sourcing natural resources, consuming water, and dyeing textiles. This policy is part of our Global Policy on Environment.
Biodiversity and Water Management
Our business depends on ecosystems that provide essential resources, such as water, and raw materials, like cotton and leather, for our products. We recognize the importance of biodiversity and the impact that the apparel and footwear industry has on it. Our biodiversity policy outlines the relationship between our business and biodiversity in areas such as sourcing natural resources, consuming water, and dyeing textiles.
As a member of the Leather Working Group (LWG) and one of the signatories of The Fashion Pact, we support zero deforestation and sustainable forest management. We are also committed to the LWG's aim to achieve 100% conversion-free and deforestation-free leather by 2030.
Furthermore, we are committed to developing the products that reduce our dependence on natural resources through collaboration with our suppliers and partners. Our initiatives include sourcing recycled materials for both products and packaging and using technology to lower water consumption. Lastly, we aim to strengthen the traceability of our material.
Our biodiversity impact
Biodiversity and climate change must be considered together. Climate change is exacerbating the loss of local species and the decline of biodiversity, which in turn reduces the amount of carbon stored in nature, thereby driving climate change. We take our role in impacting ecosystems and our responsibility to protect them seriously. We are in the process of investigating our impacts and defining appropriate targets for biodiversity.
To guide this process, we are using the LEAP approach (Locate, Evaluate, Assess, Prepare), which is the recommended analytical framework of the Taskforce on Naturerelated Financial Disclosures (TNFD). TNFD is a global initiative that provides guidance for organizations to identify, assess, and disclose their nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks, and opportunities—helping companies align their strategies with the protection and restoration of nature.
Our LEAP approach includes:
・Locate interface with nature
・Evaluate dependencies and impacts
・Assess material risk and opportunities
・Prepare to respond and report
We plan to disclose the results of our investigation in our 2025 Sustainability Report.
We also need to better understand our impact on biodiversity, therefore will continue to investigate this and develop action plans using the AR3T framework provided by SBTs for Nature.
Minimizing our water footprint
The water discharge and pollution of water sources has have a negative impact on biodiversity. That’s why our efforts to minimize water impacts also help mitigate ASICS’ broader impact on biodiversity. We actively engage stakeholders across the value chain on water-related issues. Much of the water used in our direct operations comes from municipal sources. Monitoring and managing our water use and wastewater output is key to our water management strategy. We track the water impact of ASICS facilities through our data management system and collect annual consumption data from Tier 1 footwear suppliers via Higg FEM. This data includes details on freshwater and water from areas experiencing water stress. We reduce our water impacts by installing water-efficient equipment in new, renovated, or relocated buildings — and by encouraging employees to conserve water.
Innovating to reduce water us
Apparel production is often water-intensive. To tackle this, ASICS is adopting dyeing technologies that require significantly less water. One example is the Solution Dyeing technique, which reduces wastewater generated during apparel production and dyeing processes—cutting water usage by approximately 33% compared to conventional dyeing methods. While some water use is unavoidable, we are taking steps to reduce consumption and manage wastewater more effectively.
Sourcing more sustainable cotton
Although limited, our use of cotton as one of the natural fibers in ASICS apparel products impacts nature. We have set a target to source 100% more sustainable cotton for our products by 2025. We made progress toward this target in 2024, with 59.8% more sustainable cotton* used in our products. Our approach includes a strengthened policy for the procurement of raw materials and a process for checking the traceability and status of the cotton materials purchased, including expecting our suppliers to hold documents of material origin certification. Since 2019, ASICS has been a member of Better Cotton (BC). BC works with a diverse range of stakeholders across the cotton supply chain to promote measurable and continuing improvements for the environment, farming communities, and the economies of cotton-producing areas.
*Better Cotton, Organic cotton (GOTS certified), Fairtrade certified, Recycled cotton (GRS certified), Cotton Made in Africa (CmiA) certified, U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol certified.