The fashion industry has only 8 years to lower carbon emissions. They're currently rising

Taking centre stage at Copenhagen Opera House earlier this month, Crown Princess Mary spelt out the current issues facing the world and, by proxy, fashion: pandemic, war, global economic downturn. “It is clear that our planet and humanity are facing immense challenges. There are only eight years left in which to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, and failing to meet these targets will only compound the consequences for our precious world and societies,” she said with urgency.

The facts are, to put it bluntly, quite scary. The fashion industry alone accounts for up to four per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. “Global Fashion Agenda's recent Fashion on Climate Report Projects projects that if the industry does not accelerate its response to climate change by 2030, it will produce around twice the volume of greenhouse gas emissions required to align with the Paris Agreement on Global Warming Pathways by 2050,” the future queen stated, adding “the challenge is immense.”

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But doomsday reporting isn’t the answer. Instead, it’s about being solution-oriented and highlighting how we can work together to help the planet.

And working together is key. The Global Fashion Summit, which Crown Princess Mary is patron of (and, on this occasion, a speaker at), gathered to discuss the topic of 'Alliances For A New Era’. The key takeaway? The fashion world needs to stop competing and be open to sharing innovation. Here are the key priorities that need to be addressed by both fashion companies and consumers alike.

During one of the first panels of the two-day program, Liz Richett from The Or Foundation, moved the Opera House to tears. She spoke of how 15 millions garments a week are sent to Ghana, the world’s largest second-hand clothing market. This waste has both environmental and social impacts, with a good portion of the clothes lying on the ocean floor. Young women and girls (known as kayayei) at Kantamanto Market in Accra, Ghana, are paid as little as $3 USD a day to carry bales of second-hand clothing on their heads. “If they do it for a while, and turn their head the wrong way, their neck breaks, and they die. Three years ago, I met a kayayoo who was walking upstairs with a bale on her head [when she] wobbled and [the bale] fell backwards and crushed her baby,” Richett told the summit audience.

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Richett also used the stage to announce an unexpected agreement between Shein and The OR Foundation that will see the foundation receive $15 million from the fast fashion brand as part of its new $50 million fund to tackle clothing waste. While the response to the news was mixed (some outlets called it ‘greenwashing’ on Shein’s behalf), the sentiment is clear: the Global North sending used clothes to the Global South is not a solution.

“Reading the sustainability reports of most companies, we can see that we are in the ‘little bit less bad mode’,” explained Paul Polman, co-author of Net Positive. “A little bit less plastics in the ocean, a little bit more sustainable sourcing, a little bit less deforestation, a little bit less carbon emission. But frankly, for a world that is overshot its boundaries, a little bit less bad is still bad.” For him the solution is leadership and an aligned CEO agenda to work to a place of Net Positive. “The only business model that should be acceptable is the one that is restorative, reparative, regenerative,” he says, citing joint alliances should include a sharing of best practices, a commitment to joint action and the joint funding to tackle the issues at hand.

More practically, legislation is also coming to accelerate this Net Positive goal. The EU has launched draft legislation called Textile Strategy to make companies legally responsible for their textile waste. While a Fashion Act, that forces brands to commit to science-based targets and disclose their greenhouse gas emission, has been proposed in New York.

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William McDonough, author of the 2002 Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, made the poignant admission during a panel discussion on circularity, that it “is a forever goal”. For him, a circular economy is where the fashion industry needs to get to but what’s more important is keeping that circle going forever. A stark reminder to all: How can you make your garments truly last?