Kering presented on Monday, at the Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence, a collaborative platform named Water Resilience Lab: Arno Basin, developed with the environmental organisation Conservation International and Etifor, a sustainability consultancy spun out of the University of Padoue. L'annonce comes as part of the commemorations of the 60th anniversary of the Arno flood that struck Florence in 1966.
The Lab aims to regenerate and restore the basin in order to achieve lasting resilience against water risks. Its roadmap is based on a scientific analysis carried out by Etifor with the DAGRI and DICEA departments of the University of Florence in 2025. Six priority sites have been selected as the first unit of nature-based restoration projects: Villa Petriolo, Ombrone-Bisenzio, Altopascio-Lake Sibolla, Pisa-Era Basin, Usciana-Pescia River and Arezzo-Chiana Valley. These projects have already begun on the ground.
A climate issue with figures attached
L'initiative responds to documented risks for the Toscane region. D'ici 2030, the region is expected to experience more than 50 days of heat stress per year. According to data from the Regional Institute for Economic Planning of Toscane (IRPET), cited by WWD, the 2023 floods had already caused an estimated 1.89 billion euros in damage.
« Aucune entreprise ou acteur, quelle que soit sa taille ou son influence, ne peut, seul, relever les défis posés par le changement climatique, la perte de nature et le risque hydrique », said Marie-Claire Daveu, chief sustainability and institutional affairs officer at Kering, according to remarks reported by WWD. She added that joining forces with public institutions, the scientific community and industrial partners in the Arno basin constituted « un investissement stratégique » to ensure the continuity of the group's value chain, her ambition being to turn the Arno into « un exemple de référence reproductible à l'échelle mondiale ».
LVMH, Burberry and Generali already on board
According to WWD, LVMH is said to be the first company to join the Lab at the highest level, alongside Burberry and Assicurazioni Generali. Hélène Valade, environmental development director of LVMH, said this membership illustrated « la conviction » of the group that an « approche territoriale collaborative et ancrée » was necessary to preserve ecosystems and strengthen resilience against extreme events. She also indicated that the initiative echoed the ambitions of LVMH's « LIFE 360 » environmental strategy, by uniting collective action, scientific innovation and ecosystem regeneration.
Over the past twelve months, the Lab has already brought together public and private institutions, companies, academia, the scientific community and financial players.
