The luxury giant will support a series of initiatives focused on developing more climate-friendly luxury design, including a scholarship programme, a new course on regenerative design and funding for research and development. The five-year programme builds on LVMH’s existing partnership and scholarship fund with the prestigious fashion school, which started in 2011 to promote sustainable development and innovation in the luxury industry.

The programme will have a particular focus on biodiversity and regenerative materials, through open innovation challenges and prizes awarded to top student projects in the field.

The news comes at a time of growing industry-wide interest in the issues, as fashion players look to redress and improve their contributions to the climate crisis at the raw materials stage. Touted as a way to offset carbon emissions and replenish the natural resources extracted during the farming process, regenerative agriculture helps restore soil health and biodiversity, allowing more carbon to be sequestered into the ground and vegetation. LVMH recently announced new commitments to biodiversity and regenerative agriculture programmes, with the aim of restoring 5 million hectares of natural habitat by 2030.