French multinational parent company PPR Group announced that it is launching a progressive sustainability project to encompass its impressive list of global brands, which includes Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, Stella McCartney and Puma. With a unique, multi-tiered approach to the sustainability issue and an annual budget of more than $14 million US dollars, the new 'PPR Home' initiative promises to be huge.

In partnership with Cradle to Cradle, which is a pivotal green design organization created by William McDonough, PPR Group has created a ''Creative Sustainability Lab.'' Its ambitious goals include offsetting the entire organization's 2010 carbon footprint (more than 97,000 tons of carbon) and developing new sustainability requirements and standards for reporting among the group's luxury, sports, lifestyle and retail sectors.

The Creative Sustainability Lab will employ 15 full-time individuals who will work closely with Cradle to Cradle and a variety of other experts as needed. The overarching goal is to use smart design principles to, ''rethink and reconsider product and business development,'' according to a statement by PPR Group.

PPR Group recognizes the importance of sustainability and the opportunity it represents for companies that are willing to invest in the green revolution and become pioneers for future business models to follow. ''My deep conviction that sustainability creates value is part of my strategic vision for PPR,'' said the company's CEO Francois-Henri Pinault. ''Sustainability can-and must-give rise to new, highly ambitious business models and become a lever of competitiveness for our brands.''

The new ideas coming from the Creative Sustainability Lab will affect all of the brands that fall under the PPR Group umbrella. Athletic brand Puma is leading the way with its re-designed shoebox, and will be the first of the group's brands to release profit and loss information that details the good and bad results of the new carbon-reduction program.