The luxury brands group PPR has unveiled a five-year sustainability plan, which covers all the company's brands, ranging from Yves Saint Laurent and Alexander McQueen to Balenciaga and Stella McCartney.

The group has committed to implementing an Environmental Profit & Loss Account (E P&L) by 2015 across all its businesses to "ultimately implement efficient and innovative initiatives to reduce the environmental impacts from the sourcing of raw materials, processing, manufacturing, and distribution of the group's products."

In the meantime, the company has made several commitments, including ensuring that all its gold and diamonds will be sourced from operations that do not have a harmful impact on local communities, wildlife or the ecosystems which support them.

PPR controversially uses precious skins and fur but has committed to ensure they come from verified captive breeding operations or from wild, sustainably managed populations.

The company says that for crocodiles there are already norms in place as well as EU standards for furs. But the market in snakes is unregulated and PPR believes there needs to be more transparency and traceability in sourcing.

PPR is offsetting its global emissions from its direct operations via carbon credits purchased from Wildlife Works' REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) offsetting project in Kenya and is buying a five per cent stake in the business.