ABSTRACT
The overall carbon footprint of the fashion industry, calculated at over 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2023 and may be as high as 9%; it is a globally significant contributor to climate change. Fashion consumption is also increasing such that the industry may become one of the largest greenhouse gas emitters by 2050. In this chapter, the challenge of aligning the fashion and textile industries with a Net Zero decarbonisation strategy is explored. The key global industry impacts are identified and the high-level challenge of meeting the aggressive decarbonisation targets set out in the Paris Agreement are discussed. The objective of reaching Net Zero by 2050 implies a reduction of emissions of over 90% given the rate of consumption growth expected.
The combination of a carbon-intensive and disconnected manufacturing base with increasing per capita consumption in markets driven by “Fast Fashion” are identified as the two main issues that the industry must address in order to effectively decarbonise. The inherent difficulties in addressing areas that are largely outside of the control of the fashion industry are identified as a major obstacle to change. This chapter sets out a high-level quantitative basis from which fashion decarbonisation should be addressed, based on product-level energy consumption calculation, analysis of global warming potentials and reduction in the mass of fashion products consumed per capita.
