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With billionaires grabbing headlines for their enormous donations and pledges, philanthropy is in fashion. But philanthropy isn’t in fashion — that is, the multitrillion-dollar clothing industry and the innumerable environmental and social problems it causes.
This blind spot is dangerous for the planet and for people. If philanthropic leaders are serious about addressing the climate crisis, they need to start thinking more about the clothes on their backs.
Consider that more than 100 billion garments are made each year, and humanity’s appetite for clothing is expected to nearly triple by 2050. Worldwide, 92 million tons of clothing — the equivalent of 15 Great Pyramids — head to landfills annually, and less than 15 percent is recycled. Fashion alone contributes 2 to 8 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and creates 20 percent of the world’s water waste.
Consider, too, that our clothes are made by some of the most impoverished people in the world living in regions that are most vulnerable to the climate crisis and water scarcity.
To date, a small handful of private and corporate foundations have provided support for fashion work that uses renewable clean energy, such as solar, and other sustainable manufacturing processes, but their budgets are not big enough for the task at hand. During last fall’s U.N. climate conference in Glasgow, leaders in sustainable apparel called for cutting industry emissions in half by 2030 and achieving net zero emissions by 2050.
My organization, the Apparel Impact Institute, along with Fashion for Good, recently released a report that found roughly $50 billion in philanthropic support will be needed to reach that goal, with a significant portion required in the next 10 years.
Fortunately, some government leaders are starting to pay attention. Last month, the European Commission proposed new standards for creating more environmentally sustainable clothing and changing the manufacturing practices of inexpensive and rapidly produced garments known as “fast fashion.” And earlier this year, a first-of-its-kind Fashion Sustainability and Social Accountability Act was introduced in the New York state legislature. The bill, if passed, would hold large fashion brands accountable for their impact on the climate.
While not perfect, these policies are a step in the right direction — and clothing suppliers need to be ready to respond.
The most significant portion of carbon emissions — 96 percent — happens in the clothing-manufacturing supply chain. This involves the farms that cultivate the raw materials, the factories that process them, and the facilities that go on to produce the actual garments. But many of these suppliers are small to medium-size enterprises that are typically deemed too risky for traditional sources of capital. That poses challenges to attaining funding to address climate issues.
Most clothing brands and retailers also cannot take on the risk of investing in early-stage climate-solution efforts. That’s because fashion brands produce clothing from a shared third-party supply chain of farms and factories, making it difficult for one business to directly invest in environmental upgrades. Even when that’s possible, most brands and their suppliers lack the resources to fund new and unproven approaches.
Philanthropy, however, is particularly well suited for that role. By funding this work now, grant makers can demonstrate what’s possible and then attract financing from commercial lenders and private equity. With its ability to take risks and move quickly, philanthropy can lead the way to carbon-neutral clothing in four critical areas.
Support the development of new technologies and methods to replace coal. More than half of the emissions in the fashion industry come from dyeing fabric. This so-called wet-processing stage relies on coal because it’s the cheapest and most readily available source of fuel for getting temperatures from boilers hot enough to process the fabrics.
New technologies exist that can replace coal with clean renewable sources of thermal heat, such as concentrated forms of solar that produce higher temperatures than regular solar panels and green hydrogen, which generates power through renewable energy. But pilot programs are needed to prove they will work.
For example, the Carbon Leadership Program, led by the Apparel Impact Institute, is partnering with more than 10 leading fashion brands and retailers to test new factory innovations and share data about effective approaches to carbon reduction. And Fashion for Good recently launched the D(R)YE Factory of the Future, a project that aims to accelerate the shift from wet to mostly dry textile processing that uses little water and less energy. Innovative solutions like these could be expanded through greater philanthropic investment.
Decrease risk, and help draw new investments into clean energy solutions. The innovations for making factories less harmful to the environment are already available, including rooftop solar and more efficient boilers and insulation. Philanthropy can help reduce the financial risk faced by businesses that want to adopt these clean-energy approaches by supporting the development and dissemination of technical expertise and guidance on best practices. Proven solutions can then be matched with factories that are willing and ready to make these improvements. For example, through the philanthropic support of HSBC Bank, my organization is working with other nonprofits to install rooftop solar panels in apparel manufacturing facilities in Vietnam. Successful philanthropic investments of this kind can help unlock additional funding sources.
Invest in better and more environmentally sustainable fabrics. Leather made from plants. Recycled polyester, cotton, and nylon. Sustainably produced viscose. Next-generation fabrics of this kind are out there, but more research and development and improved infrastructure are needed to make them broadly available and less expensive to produce. That starts with investing in more efficient irrigation practices that allow natural fibers to be grown in ways that are least destructive of the environment — what’s known as regenerative agriculture practices. Nonp
rofits such as the Textile Exchange provide research and data to help clothing brands and retailers make the switch to farms that use regenerative agriculture, but work of this type needs to be accelerated and adopted much more widely.
Fund the development of digital tools that provide standardized and transparent data about carbon emissions. The emissions along the clothing supply chain are hard to measure as they travel from the farm to the final cut-and-sew assembly stage. More sophisticated tools are needed to track and verify data on those emissions to ensure the industry is meeting its climate commitments. Philanthropy can help by investing in stronger number-crunching tools, supporting data scientists to translate findings into actionable steps, and funding education and outreach.
Making these changes is neither easy nor cheap, but grant makers committed to addressing the climate crisis know there are no other options. To encourage greater philanthropic involvement, the Apparel Impact Institute is building a $250 million donor collaborative, the Fashion Climate Fund, which will combine resources from private and corporate philanthropy and the clothing industry. The goal is to use those funds to unlock $2 billion in financial capital to help meet the goal of cutting carbon emissions in half by 2030.
We are calling for a total disruption of business as usual in the apparel industry, kicked off with a significant philanthropic investment. The first people to benefit will be the industry’s most burdened workers, who deserve safe, healthy, and pollution-free workplaces and communities. They need our help — and so does the planet.
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