Opinion

4 Ways Brands Can Reduce Climate Impact

Humanity faces no bigger threat than climate change, and the fashion industry needs to take responsibility for our role in warming the planet. We look at what the issues are, and what steps fashion can take to clean up its act.
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Key Takeaways
  • Limiting the damage from climate change requires cutting net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050, and every industry has a part to play
  • The fashion industry is responsible for around 2-4 percent of all manmade greenhouse gas emissions, and that percentage is set to grow
  • Most emissions come from raw materials, so improving the way we produce polyester and cotton could have a huge impact
  • Challenging the current fast fashion ethos of the industry is going to be essential in the fight against global warming

Although it doesn’t have the reputation of, say, the oil industry, fashion is making a sizeable contribution to warming the planet – the fashion industry was responsible for 2.1 billion metric tons of GHG emissions in 2018, according to McKinsey Fashion on Climate report. To put things in perspective, the annual green house gas (GHG) emissions of the fashion industry equals the annual emissions from economies of France, Germany and the UK combined.1

The fashion industry produces 2-4 percent o…

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10 December 2021
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Author
William Petty

Editor at Freelance

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