After COP27 and just before Black Friday, the Berlin public interest think tank Hot or Cool Institute and the network of international organizations Rapid Transition Alliance released a report entitled “Unfit, Unfair, Unfashionable: Resizing Fashion for a Fair Consumption Space”.
This sets out how the global fashion industry can be brought into line with the 1.5 degree Celsius target of the Paris Agreement and what enormous changes are required throughout the value chain. In particular, the wealthiest citizens of the richest nations would need to take immediate action: For example, consumers in the UK, US and Japan will be expected to buy an average of just five new items of clothing per year by 2030.
Fashion industry could account for a quarter of the global carbon budget
The report also found that without urgent action from governments, industry and consumers, the fashion industry could claim up to a quarter of the global carbon budget by 2050.
“The fashion industry needs to change its behavior as quickly as a runway model changes clothes. Systemic and behavioral changes, particularly among affluent consumers with bulging closets, must converge for people to dress within planetary and climatic boundaries. Rapid transition to maintain a livable climate now involves a rethink, as retail mega-events like Black Friday are completely inconsistent with our global climate commitments,” said Andrew Simms, coordinator of the Rapid Transition Alliance, in a statement.
Without such changes, the fashion industry’s share of global emissions is projected to increase by nearly 50 percent by 2030. That means the same amount of emissions from the global fashion industry as India in 2021, a country of around 1.4 billion people and the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases after China and the US.
In general, the influence of the fashion industry on the climate is far greater in wealthier countries such as the UK, Germany, France, USA and others, where the richest 20 percent would need to reduce their carbon footprint from fashion consumption by 83 percent by 2030 in order to reach the 1.5- to achieve the degree Celsius target of the Paris Agreement. On average, fashion consumption by the richest 20 percent causes 20 times the emissions of the poorest 20 percent, although there are significant differences between countries.
The report therefore recommends that tackling the climate impact of fashion must start with the wealthiest countries and the wealthiest consumers within those countries: the carbon footprint of fashion consumption in wealthy G20 countries (such as the UK, US, Germany, Japan and Saudi Arabia) must fall by an average of 60 percent by 2030. In middle-income countries like Brazil and South Africa, the fashion footprint needs to decrease by 40 percent by 2030. In countries like India and Indonesia, the average carbon footprint of fashion consumption is currently below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
In concrete terms, the richest 20 percent in Great Britain, with an average disposable income of £69,126, would have to reduce their fashion consumption footprint by 83 percent, or the richest 20 percent in Germany and Italy by 75 percent and in France by 50 percent.
Less is more effective than repair, slow fashion
The report found that reducing overall purchases of new clothes is four times more effective at reducing emissions than the next best thing, increasing the longevity of clothes.
“To stay within the 1.5 degree Celsius target, per capita consumption of fashion in most high-income countries must return to 2010 levels, in addition to reforming business models and reducing emissions in the production, retail and disposal of clothing,” the report recommends. Retail mega events like Black Friday are out of the question; they are “entirely inconsistent with our global climate commitments.”
However, the impact of fashion consumption and production goes beyond carbon emissions, as large amounts of resources such as water are consumed in the production process, while the increasing use of synthetic fibers such as polyester, which are found in more than half of garments, is driving demand after polluting oil and gas is soaring.
“The fashion industry must disclose its contribution to the environmental crisis and also its role in perpetuating unfair social and labor conditions around the world. The numbers in this report make that clear. Fast fashion is particularly ruthless; their activities are primarily designed to make money for a few people at the expense of everyone else and the environment,” summarizes Lewis Akenji, executive director of the Hot or Cool Institute.