As a special edition of their annual Fashion Transparency Index report, Fashion Revolution has released What Fuels Fashion?, a report analyzing 250 of the world’s biggest fashion brands based on their public disclosure of climate and energy-related policies and processes. The report, for which Action Speaks Louder was a strategic advisor, covers 70 data points across accountability, decarbonization, energy procurement, financing decarbonization, and just transition and advocacy. Despite slow progress from the fashion industry on phasing out fossil fuels, the report concludes that strong, credible commitments backed by long-term investment will be key to decarbonising fashion’s supply chains with a clean, fair, and just energy transition.
Read on for an op-ed we contributed to the report.
Climate scientists are increasingly alarmed by just how quickly climate models are being outpaced by record-breaking temperatures and extreme weather events. Even the most optimistic predictions risk being surpassed as we smash through six out of nine planetary boundaries and already exceed 1.5°C of global heating.
How could this be? In part, it is because we really don’t know the true scale of our global carbon footprint, due to a system of mostly voluntary, unregulated emissions accounting.
Several calculations have attempted to estimate the fashion industry’s emissions, largely based on incomplete fiber production data, ranging from 1.8% to 4.6% to 8-10% of the whole economy. But as this report shows, almost half of brands do not even disclose their Scope 3 emissions. There are also huge gaps in our understanding of fashion’s climate impact because of the top-down nature of the sector, where supply chain emissions data is largely based on secondary averages pulled from flawed lifecycle analysis (LCA) studies. Meanwhile, brands only report emissions from products that reach the shop floor, leaving canceled orders as ghosts in the machine.
Out of the 117 brands that disclosed science-based targets, 42 have reported an increase in their scope 3 emissions compared to their baseline year. What’s more, 24% of brands disclosed absolutely nothing about their decarbonization plans, and most brands failed to commit to phasing out coal, electrifying thermal processes or transitioning to renewable energy. As the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recommends, emissions of all sectors must halve by 2030 to mitigate the most catastrophic climate impacts — which are already being experienced by communities and workers in brands’s own supply chains — so we must call out these major brands for their climate inaction, just like the fossil fuel companies they rely on.
So much of the problem, and therefore the solution, lies with the rules of the game — AKA the non-binding nature of emissions disclosure and decarbonization plans. Accounting loopholes, misleading reporting, corrupt funding and false solutions — like carbon offsets and renewable energy credits — dominate the corporate sustainability landscape. Certification schemes and multi-stakeholder initiatives provide smokescreens for inaction. PR-friendly promises are substitutes for implementation and investment. While I’m under no illusion that a corporate entity will have pure intentions for the challenging and expensive work of climate mitigation, integrity and transparency are essential to align with the harsh reality climate science is screaming at us.
It is positive to see tangible signs of progress in this year’s report, like a growing number of brands setting emissions reduction targets across all scopes. Time-bound, measurable targets are essential to driving investment, enabling accountability, and signaling change across the industry. Still, it’s difficult to celebrate these incremental improvements when emissions continue growing beyond an already sky-high baseline.
Looking forward, we need to see brands prioritize three actions. First, setting short and long-term targets aligned with a 1.5°C pathway. Second, developing credible, strategic roadmaps to meet these targets, including renewable energy procurement plans. Third, integrating the climate strategy into the business strategy by backing up these targets with financial investment: brands must provide substantial support and fairer purchasing practices for suppliers to access decarbonisation, and ultimately address the short term profit-driven fast fashion business model that drives overproduction and waste. Where should companies start? By publicly disclosing each of these steps.
For every sustainability claim we see, we need to ask one fundamental question. Does this actually make an impact on reducing emissions, ditching fossil fuels or scaling up renewable energy? If not, the Earth simply cannot tell the difference.
