{"id":28785,"date":"2025-07-23T11:26:50","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T18:26:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apparelimpact.org\/?p=28785"},"modified":"2025-08-06T10:24:32","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T17:24:32","slug":"fashion-industry-sees-7-emissions-spike-driven-by-overproduction-and-polyester-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apparelimpact.org\/resources\/fashion-industry-sees-7-emissions-spike-driven-by-overproduction-and-polyester-use\/","title":{"rendered":"Release: Fashion Industry Sees 7% Emissions Spike, Driven by Overproduction and Polyester Use"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>SAN FRANCISCO, JULY 22, 2025<\/strong> \u4e00 Apparel sector emissions grew by 7.5% in 2023, finds the Apparel Impact Institute\u2019s (Aii) annual report, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/apparelimpact.org\/resources\/taking-stock-of-progress-against-the-roadmap-to-net-zero-2025\/\">Taking Stock of Progress Against the Roadmap to Net Zero 2025<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This stark rise in greenhouse gas emissions marks the first year-on-year increase since Aii began tracking the industry\u2019s climate progress in 2019. Total emissions for the year reached 944 million tonnes, accounting for nearly 2% of total global emissions and pushing the industry further from its goal of halving its carbon footprint by 2030.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The sector\u2019s rise in emissions was driven by increased apparel production, like ultra-fast fashion, and a growing reliance on virgin polyester. This fossil fuel-based fiber now makes up 57% of total global fiber production, while recycled alternatives remain underutilized.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite the increase in sector-wide emissions, the report notes that many manufacturers and brands are making tangible progress in decarbonizing energy use. Several companies have achieved measurable reductions in their Scope 1 and 2 emissions by investing in renewable energy, energy efficiency improvements, and early coal phase-out \u4e00 an area where Aii\u2019s programs and partnerships have helped lay important groundwork.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, a growing number of brands are reducing their scope 3 emissions, working with suppliers to scale climate-conscious operations, the report finds. This includes H&amp;M, which reduced its scope 3 emissions 23% from 2019 to 2024, as well as emissions reductions by Fast Retailing (Uniqlo\u2019s parent company), Puma, and Inditex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Suppliers are also scaling their decarbonization investments and initiatives, reflected by Artistic Milliners\u2019 $100 million investment in renewable energy, Shenzhou Group\u2019s 24% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions between 2022 and 2024, and Elevate Textiles\u2019 35% drop in emissions since 2019.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhile it\u2019s encouraging to see progress across the value chain, with meaningful case studies from both brands and suppliers, this data is a stark reminder of how far we still must go as an industry,\u201d said Lewis Perkins, President of Aii. \u201cThe good news is we don\u2019t have to start from scratch. Resources, initiatives, funding, and partnerships are available to support every part of the fashion ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Published at the mid-way point of the decisive decade, the report identifies key priorities and next steps for the sector. This includes scaling sustainable materials, maximizing energy efficiency, shifting to 100% renewable energy, and eliminating coal in manufacturing.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>+++<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About Apparel Impact Institute (Aii):<\/strong> Apparel Impact Institute (Aii) is a 501(c)(3) global nonprofit collective founded in 2017. The organization is dedicated to identifying, funding, scaling, and measuring the apparel and footwear industry\u2019s proven environmental impact solutions. Aii leads the $250M Fashion Climate Fund, leveraging a first-of-its-kind collaborative funding model between philanthropy and corporate entities. It is designed to catalyze climate action by funding and scaling solutions for decarbonization, and marked to unlock a total of $2B in blended capital, to meet the industry\u2019s goal to halve carbon emissions by 2030. To learn more about Aii, please visit: <a href=\"http:\/\/apparelimpact.org\/\"><strong>apparelimpact.org<\/strong><\/a><strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>For media inquiries, please contact:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jacqueline Siffer, Account Supervisor&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jacqueline@browningenvironmental.com<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>+1(202) 615-3645<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SAN FRANCISCO, JULY 22, 2025 \u4e00 Apparel sector emissions grew by 7.5% in 2023, finds the Apparel Impact Institute\u2019s (Aii) annual report, Taking Stock of Progress Against the Roadmap to Net Zero 2025. This stark rise in greenhouse gas emissions marks the first year-on-year increase since Aii began tracking the industry\u2019s climate progress in 2019. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[],"media-types":[51],"class_list":["post-28785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release","media-types-article"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apparelimpact.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apparelimpact.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apparelimpact.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apparelimpact.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apparelimpact.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/apparelimpact.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28785\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apparelimpact.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apparelimpact.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apparelimpact.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28785"},{"taxonomy":"media-types","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apparelimpact.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-types?post=28785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}