Just two weeks ahead of London Fashion Week, a new report from industry ethics advocacy group Collective Fashion Justice (CFJ) has highlighted a troubling lack of progress in the British fashion industry’s decarbonisation efforts.
As the report notes, the “window of time left to curb total climate catastrophe is quickly closing” and, while there is “no doubt” that the fashion industry is a major contributor to the climate crisis, the CFJ’s argues that brands in the UK aren’t doing enough to curb their impact on a planet already feeling the effects of the climate crisis.
Fashion Council brands falling short of science based targets
The CFJ found that less than 4% of British Fashion Council member brands have published any public climate targets whatsoever. Even fewer of those targets align with the science-based targets set out by the Paris Agreement.
Science-based targets are those that align a business’ sustainability efforts with goals and benchmarks laid out in the Paris Agreement in 2016 — a legally binding agreement between 195 nations to keep global heating beneath 2 degrees Celsius. The scientific community has highlighted the fact that the agreement is not aggressive enough to curtail global heating. Despite the widespread agreement from the scientific community that the Paris Agreement’s science-based targets fall short of what is necessary to effectively combat climate change, over 96% of the British Fashion Council’s member brands have failed to take the necessary steps to align themselves with them.
Of the 206 BFC member designers and brands assessed just 7 have a published climate target (less than 4%). Only 5 have a science based target aligned with the Paris Agreement (2.4%). The industry has, the CFJ argues, failed to meaningfully invest in combating its environmental impact, adding that government policy has failed to necessitate that investment.
“This finding is an embarrassment for an industry that considers itself one of the most creative and innovative in the world.” — Collective Fashion Justice
Degrowth, materials, and decarbonisation: Solutions to fashion’s carbon disaster
The report proposes three solutions to the issue: a combination of degrowth, decarbonisation, and a new approach to responsible materials production. The CFJ notes that scientific data ties 38% of industry greenhouse gas emissions to irresponsible raw material production, “particularly those derived from ruminant animals and fossil fuels.”
A dramatic reduction in animal-derived materials like leather and cashmere would, the CFJ argues, result in a substantial reduction of greenhouse gas emissions — specifically methane. They also note, however, that fossil fuel-derived materials also have their consumption reduced, according to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
“Animal-derived materials must not continue to be green-washed and ignored,” argues the CFJ, but rather have their usage reduced according to science-based targets. The CFJ advocates for responsibly replacing animal-derived materials with bio-innovation. The report emphasises that the rearing of animals for both food and fashion is the leading driver of anthropogenic methane (32%) and responsible for 16.5% of total greenhouse gas emissions.
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According to Vishal Patel, VP of Product at cloud-based procurement software vendor Ivalua, “The pressure is on fashion brands to implement and track sustainable practices across the clothing production process, from converting raw materials in factories to finished products on the shopfloor.”
He acknowledges that, with major fashion brands potentially dealing with as many as 50,000 suppliers across hundreds of different regions, it’s “extremely difficult to accurately track their suppliers’ green practices and near impossible to track beyond tier 1 and 2 suppliers.” Considering Scope 3 emissions are largely responsible for an organisation’s carbon footprint, this is a major challenge that lies ahead of the fashion industry, but it’s not one that it can afford to avoid, argues the CFJ.
“This isn’t a question of whether or not brands want or feel morally obligated to act. There is no future of fashion on a dead planet: no supply chain remains untouched by the effects of climate change,” admonishes the report. “If the British fashion industry wants to be taken seriously it needs to set and follow through on science-based targets that prevent climate catastrophe, aligned with the Paris Agreement and ensuring a net-zero 2050, with substantial progress made in the coming years.”
Patel adds: “To help keep track of emissions and hit ESG targets, fashion brands need to take a smarter approach to procurement to carefully select suppliers, effectively assess their environmental impact, and identify opportunities to work with suppliers to meet sustainability requirements.”
