COP26 x Fashion

COP26 set off to strong start in Glasgow with more than 100 nations agreeing to end deforestation by 2030, and more than 80 countries led by the US and the EU promised to cut their methane emissions by 30% before 2030. Many nations made new commitments to phase out the use of fossil fuels for energy, but the world’s biggest users of fossil fuels (China, US, India & Australia) did not want to join in on the effort to cut back on coal power which was frustrating to see.

The fashion industry is responsible for 8% of global emissions, so what was discussed with regards to fashion at COP26?

The United Nations Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action stated that their efforts really need to be ramped up, and that the 2018 Fashion Charter was not enough. Stronger, more concrete goals need to be laid out. The first commitment was for 100% of the main material types (cotton, viscose, polyester, wool, and leather) to be low climate impact by 2030. There is no definition under the IPCC (or Google) as to what low climate impact really means, or how it can be measured, but specific references were made to materials that can be recycled in a closed loop and are deforestation free and produced using regenerative processes.

A further change was to encourage brands to reduce emissions from their suppliers directly. The commitment under the Charter requires brands to phase out coal from their supply chains by 2030, and not to have any new coal power by 2023. This is easy to say now, but given how we outsource our manufacturing production to China & India who have not pledged to make any changes to their use of coal powered stations (yet) how is this going to be practically implemented? India has pledged to become net-zero by 2070, and China by 2060, their commitments are different due to various reasons, but it doesn’t look as though the Charter has put this fact into consideration on this one.

Many experts have argued that enforcement is needed to ensure that the new commitments under the charter are not ignored. It’s great to see new targets backed by science, but what will happen if they are not met? What will the penalty be? They ought to be enshrined into law to give the industry the best possible chance to turn itself around.

Further to this, the new commitments laid out only apply to those brands that have signed up to the Charter (around 130). What about the other thousands of fashion and textile companies around the globe? Hopefully they follow suit and start to do what they can, whether that’s changing suppliers or reducing plastic waste everything brands try and do is a huge step in changing our habits for good.

There were many discussions about working together, and collective action, and that’s one thing we can be sure will work. From global leaders, policy makers, CEOs, and ourselves – we all have a part to play in stopping fashion from burning the planet.