The world’s demand for fast fashion has allowed greenhouse-gas emissions to rise despite ambitions to decarbonise supply chains by 45 per cent by 2030. More than 600 fashion companies have adopted science-based targets for emissions reduction, compared with just over a dozen in 2019.

Yet the sector’s emissions grew by 7.5 per cent in 2023 from the year before, said a report last month by the Apparel Impact Institute (AII).

Aligning with the goal of limiting global temperature rise within 1.5 degrees Celsius under the Paris Agreement would require slashing fashion’s absolute emissions from 0.944 gigatonnes to 0.489 gigatonnes in the next five years, according to the AII report.

The problem is that many brands pledge reducing their emissions intensity, meaning emissions divided by revenue or gross profit, so as they grow, they pump more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, said a recent study by the German think tank New Climate Institute.

Since making their pledges for decarbonisation, 40 per cent of brands saw their emissions grow in absolute terms, according to an analysis by consulting firm McKinsey & Co.

In one case, emissions by the Singapore-based fast-fashion giant Shein Group grew by 18 per cent in 2024, as it uses air freight rather than container vessels to ship its products the world.

More than half of apparel emissions take place upstream, in the fossil-fuel intensive processes of washing, dyeing and finishing in Asian textile mills.

That leaves brands seeking ways to reduce emissions by their suppliers in apparel production countries.

Brand In/Action

Apparel makers can cut carbon emissions and reduce energy use by replacing fossil fuel-fired boilers with renewable-powered electric boilers for heating water and setting up rooftop solar panels in factories.

Small efficiency measures like recovering and reusing waste heat generated during heating water, plugging leaks and installing better insulation could provide energy savings of 5 per cent to 18 per cent, said a study commissioned by the United Nations’ Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action.

Read the full article about emissions in the apparel sector at Eco-Business.