SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt — The world’s fashion
giants have pledged to trim their carbon footprint but that goal remains
elusive at a time “fast fashion” is all the rage — a topic in the spotlight at
the UN climate summit.
اضافة اعلان
With a chance to strut their climate commitments at
COP27 talks, clothing brands and manufacturers discussed global warming — but
some admitted that their pledge to halve emissions by 2030 and reach net-zero
by mid-century may be a stretch.
“Are we there yet? Of course not. Are we on track? I
would say ... maybe,” Stefan Seidel, senior head of sustainability at Puma,
told a panel at the COP27 in the Egyptian seaside resort of Sharm El-Sheikh.
Greenpeace and other groups have urged the sector —
already under fire for often exploitative labor practices — to slow down or end
the wasteful trend of mass-producing low-cost clothes that are quickly thrown
away.
Fast fashion, they charge, uses up massive amounts
of water, produces hazardous chemicals and clogs up landfills in poor countries
with textile waste, while also generating greenhouse gases in production,
transport and disposal.
The fashion sector was responsible for 4 percent of
global emissions in 2018 — about the same as Britain, France and
Germany combined — according to the McKinsey consultancy firm.
Some 30 firms — from retail giants H&M and Zara
owner Inditex to sports apparel rivals Adidas and Nike — signed up to the
Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action at the COP24 summit in Poland in
2018.
At the time they pledged to cut emissions by 30
percent by 2030 and to be net-zero emitters by mid-century.
A year ago they set the new, more ambitious goal of
slashing their CO2 emissions by half by the end of the decade, with more than
100 companies now signatories to the pledge.
But meeting the target is a major challenge for an
industry with long and complex supply chains that span the globe, industry
insiders admit.
‘Difficult and costly’
Industry figures at COP27
barely mentioned the “fast fashion” business model, which critics say is at the
heart of the problem, focusing instead on ideas around the use of renewable
energy in factories and regulation.
But greening the entire supply chain and introducing
climate-friendly standards among suppliers of raw materials and factories is a
monumental task.
Leyla Ertur, head of sustainability at H&M, said
the Swedish firm has more than 800 suppliers.
And Marie-Claire Daveu, sustainability chief at
Kering Group, which owns luxury brands Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, said:
“Even us, we’re not big enough to change all the supplies chains. That’s why
collaboration is key.”
Ali Nouira, an Egyptian manufacturer, told another
COP27 panel that certification bodies do not even exist in the region.
“When we manufacture, we need to have all the right
certifications and the carbon footprints and all that, and for a small brand
coming out from Egypt that is extremely difficult and also costly,” Nouira
said.
“We also
manufacture for other brands, in Europe and other places,” he said. “And we’re
pressured to have the certifications and also to go down with our prices, so
they can continue to make the profits they make.”
‘Leap of faith’
Nicholas Mazzei, head of
environmental sustainability at online retailer Zalando, said there had been a
culture change in developed countries, with banks offering lower interest rates
to companies that commit to a net-zero target.
“If you make that transformation, you may end up
paying nothing because the loans are so low the costs are basically free,”
Mazzei said.
But suppliers face big costs as sewing clothes in
factories requires more energy than that used by retail stores at the end of
the supply chain.
“We need, at a far bigger scale, more renewable
energy than brands do,” said Catherine Chiu, vice president of corporate
quality and sustainability at Kong Kong firm Crystal International Group.
“Even if we install solar panels in all of our 20
plants, that would only represent 17 percent of the energy consumption of the
group,” she said.
Delman Lee, vice chair for sustainability at TAL
Apparel, another Hong Kong garment manufacturer, said it has been decarbonizing
its operations for a decade.
But with subsidiaries in countries including Vietnam
and Ethiopia, it is complicated to navigate the different regulations, Lee
said.
Aiming to become a net-zero business “is a leap of faith
commitment,” Lee said. “You commit to something you don’t know how to achieve.”
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