With the United Nations climate change conference (COP27) starting on Sunday and taking place in Egypt this year, a shocking new report shows the fashion industry is lagging behind on its targets to reduce emissions by 2030.
Data from Stand.earth’s Fashion Supply Chain Emissions Report 2022 shows that emissions have increased this year, despite public commitments and promises by fashion companies to reduce carbon emissions compared to previous years.
The fashion industry is a major contributor to environmental pollution around the world
The fashion industry is currently responsible for around 5-8 per cent of annual climate emissions, with some signatories to the climate agreement failing to meet the 2030 deadline unless they make changes soon.
Stand.earth evaluated ten fashion companies including American Eagle Outfitters, Fast Retailing, Gap Inc., H&M, Inditex, Kering, Lululemon, Levi Strauss & Co, Nike and VF Corp. Of the 10 companies, only Levi’s is on track to cut its supply chain emissions by 55 percent compared to 2018 to limit warming to below 1.5 degrees. At the other end of the scale is Lululemon, which increased its output by 60 percent compared to 2021.
“If climate protection were a catwalk, then most of these brands would still be looking for the wardrobe. The data is clear: the leading fashion brands need to do more to reduce their carbon emissions.”
Rachel Kitchin, Corporate Climate Campaigner for Stand.earth
“At COP26, all of these brands increased their commitment under the UN Fashion Charter and pledged to halve their emissions by 2030. But despite some small signs of progress, most not only fail, but actually deteriorate,” continued Kitchin. “These results make it disturbingly clear that these brands are not acting to decarbonize their supply chains, where the vast majority of climate-damaging emissions come from.”
The most important results:
Fashion brands are still not on track to reach the 1.5 degree emissions path and most of them are still going in the wrong direction. Two of the brands, Nike and Inditex (Zara), reported production emissions of almost 10 million tonnes of CO2 – the equivalent of more than 2 million petrol-powered cars per company.
While many brands saw pandemic-related emissions decreases in 2020, eight out of ten brands saw their supply chain emissions increase again in 2021, further missing their emissions targets. While COP26 has sparked some interesting discussions about digital IDs tracking a garment’s production history and curbing overproduction, most fashion giants have continued into 2022 with a ‘business as usual’ attitude.
“Fossil fuels have no place in a rapidly warming world, let alone in our closets,” said Gary Cook, Stand.earth’s corporate campaign director. “Fashion brands must rapidly decarbonize their production by committing to power their supply chains with 100 percent renewable energy and phasing out fossil fuels as a source of energy, fabric and fuel.”
The discrepancy in sustainability transparency
In its 2021 sustainability impact summary, Lululemon said the company had “achieved its science-based goal of reducing absolute greenhouse gas emissions by 60 percent at all owned and operated facilities.” However, the company failed to mention that most of its factories still rely on coal and other fossil fuels, and that it has yet to commit to renewable energy like H&M Group, which by comparison has announced it will phase out renewable energy by 2025 Phase out coal locally and transition their supply chain to 100 percent renewable electricity by 2030.
The fashion industry needs to take transparency measures as current annual reports and sustainability updates are opaque. Quantifiable data should be provided to indicate whether companies are on track to meet their targets while reducing and ending dependency on fossil fuels.
Source: Stand.Earth report “Major Fashion Brands Increase Emissions in 2022”
This translated article originally appeared on FashionUnited.uk.