Environmental

Sustainable Materials Sourcing: Levi Strauss & Co. has made significant progress in sourcing sustainable materials, with a growing share of its products made from organic cotton and recycled fibers, positioning it ahead of many apparel peers in sustainable sourcing initiatives.

Water Stewardship Leadership: The company’s Water<Less program has reduced water use in manufacturing by over 4 billion liters since inception, and Levi’s continues to expand water-saving techniques across its supply chain, a material issue for denim production.

Climate Commitments and Emissions Reduction: Levi’s has set science-based targets to reduce Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas emissions, with recent disclosures showing progress toward its 2025 and 2030 goals, though full value chain decarbonization remains a challenge.

Levi Strauss demonstrates strong environmental performance, particularly in sustainable sourcing and water management, with credible climate targets and transparent reporting. While value chain emissions remain a long-term challenge, the company’s initiatives place it among industry leaders.

Social

Worker Health, Safety, and Wellbeing: Levi’s maintains robust worker safety standards in its owned and supplier factories, but faces ongoing challenges in ensuring consistent labor practices across its global supply chain, a common risk in the apparel sector.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI): The company has published workforce diversity data and set public DEI goals, with some progress in management representation, but remains below best-in-class benchmarks for gender and ethnic diversity in leadership.

Community Engagement and Social Impact: Levi’s invests in community programs focused on equality and social justice, and has a history of advocacy on social issues, though the scale of impact is moderate relative to its global footprint.

Levi’s social performance is moderate, with strengths in worker safety and community engagement, but persistent supply chain labor risks and lagging diversity metrics limit its standing versus top peers.

Governance

Board Independence and Structure: The board includes a mix of independent and family representatives, reflecting the company’s dual-class share structure, which limits minority shareholder influence and is a material governance risk.

Ethics, Compliance, and Transparency: Levi’s maintains comprehensive codes of conduct and regular compliance training, with no recent material controversies or regulatory actions reported, supporting a stable governance environment.

Executive Compensation Alignment: Executive pay is linked to financial and select ESG metrics, but the company’s use of stock-based compensation is moderate relative to revenue, and overall pay practices are in line with industry norms.

Levi’s governance is generally sound, with strong compliance and transparency, but the dual-class structure and family control present ongoing risks to minority shareholders and limit best-in-class governance ratings.

Overall Score

Levi Strauss & Co. demonstrates strong ESG performance overall, led by industry-leading environmental initiatives and solid governance practices. Social performance is moderate, with ongoing supply chain and diversity challenges. The company’s transparent reporting and credible targets support its standing as a responsible apparel leader, though governance structure and supply chain risks warrant continued monitoring.