Is the fashion industry taking net zero seriously?

But there are signs that the industry is not taking net zero as seriously as it should, undermining efforts to move the sector towards a more sustainable future.

In 2024, Fashion Revolution reported that 47% of 250 of the world’s biggest fashion brands and retailers have set emissions reduction targets that are approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

Minimal industry buy-in

In 2024, Fashion Revolution reported that 47% of 250 of the world’s biggest fashion brands and retailers have set emissions reduction targets that are approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

But not all of these companies report on the progress of their targets. Among the 107 that do, 58 report reductions on their emissions. The other 49 report emissions increases, with most of those being Scope 3 emissions (indirect greenhouse gas emissions that occur as a result of a company’s activities that account for around 96% of total emissions within the fashion industry).

Essentially, half of the biggest fashion brands aren’t demonstrating any efforts to decarbonise, and another quarter are reporting an increase in emissions despite pledging to reduce them.

In the same year, Collective Fashion Justice (CFJ) assessed 206 fashion brands – all members of the British Fashion Council – and found that only seven have publicly set emission reductions targets. Just five of them have set climate targets that are aligned with the Paris Agreement, the international climate change treaty that was negotiated in 2015 to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

Likewise, Fashion Revolution names just four brands – ASICS, H&M, Marks & Spencer, and Patagonia – as setting emissions reduction targets that are in line with UN ambitions.

Fashion’s carbon emissions are on the rise

Recent reporting also doesn’t paint a positive picture of fashion’s ability to reach net zero. The Apparel Impact Institute (Aii) has reported an increase of 7.5% in fashion’s carbon emissions in 2023 – this was the first time that emissions had gone up year-on-year since 2019 (when Aii started collating this data).

Although the Roadmap to Net Zero report states that it can’t attribute the increase to a specific company or category, Aii also says “we assume that the rise of ultra-fast fashion brands is a key contributor to this increase.”

The environmental issues associated with ultra-fast fashion brands like Shein aren’t new, but their impact seems to be increasing year-on-year.

Take, for example, the fact that in 2023 Shein reported an increase in emissions of 45% to 16.7 million tonnes of carbon. And that this was a 175% increase on the brand’s emissions in 2021.

An almost 200% increase in carbon emissions over two years feels like an impossible pace for net zero activities to keep up with. 

And yet, in May this year Shein’s target to achieve net zero in its business by 2050 was approved by the SBTi.

Gap between setting and achieving targets

Setting a net zero target is one thing. Actually achieving it is another – especially if there aren’t any serious penalties for failing to do so.

Because if there is no penalty, then there doesn’t need to be any genuine intention when setting one. It becomes a box-ticking exercise designed primarily to appeal to consumers and investors.

The other problem with net zero commitments is that the target date is always a long way off. It’s actually quite hard for people to really picture 2050 – especially when many people repeatedly talk about feeling like the year 2000 wasn’t long ago.

And that cognitive challenge gives us a false optimism around net zero by 2050. Because it feels far away, we relax into thinking that there’s plenty of time to make improvements. But without making meaningful progress every year, these commitments risk becoming like the dissertation you try to write the night before hand-in – too much work to do for the amount of time you have left.

Especially, if like Shein, the volume of carbon emissions a business produces goes up rapidly every year, making the job of offsetting them harder.

At present, the SBTi helps companies with setting their net zero targets, but it doesn’t impose any financial or legal penalties if they miss them. 

Researchers at Harvard, Berkeley and the Stern School of Business also reported that of 1,000 firms that set carbon emissions targets for 2020, only 88 achieved their targets. A massive 633 missed their target and the other 320 simply stopped reporting on their progress.

They also found that the companies that failed didn’t suffer any negative impacts, such as a drop in stock price, lower ESG ratings or negative press - primarily because they didn’t talk about it.

Transparent, measurable, concrete

A lack of transparency around targets and progress feels out of step with the multitude of emission reduction commitments that the global fashion industry has made.

In 2018, the United Nations Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action was launched with fashion and textile companies committing to achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

Similarly, more than 160 fashion brands have also signed up to The Fashion Pact, which – among other things – includes a pledge to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

And yet, there are companies who are signatories on both of these pledges who haven’t actually set emissions targets.

One thing that shouldn’t be overlooked is that the UN Fashion Industry Charter includes a commitment to halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 (when compared to 2019 levels). We’re just five years away from this deadline, which raises concerns about how viable it really is. And if the industry misses the 2030 halfway deadline, what does that say about the net zero by 2050 target?

For the fashion industry to start taking its net zero pledges seriously, businesses must adopt a transparent approach. This means publicly sharing targets and progress, ensuring that targets are time-bound and measurable rather than generic, and based around concrete actions that can be taken, such as moving to renewable energy sources.

What’s really interesting is that among the fashion brands that are held up as doing the most to achieve their net zero targets, many are working to a self-imposed shorter deadline.

For example, both H&M and Patagonia have committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2040, which is ten years sooner than the 2050 goals of the wider industry.

And while these companies may not be making perfect progress, the fact that they are pushing themselves to tackle emissions faster could help create a pathway for the rest of the industry to follow.

Most important of all, these companies are talking about what they’re doing out loud. They’re embracing transparency as a way to ensure they stay accountable and focused, even as they grapple with the challenge of business growth causing an increase in emissions.

And for the rest of the industry, who may be lagging behind, transparency is actually the best way forward because it forces companies to break down the task of achieving net zero and put in place interim milestones. 

Going from 100 to zero is a difficult task, but going from 100 to 75 to 50 to 25 to zero is a whole lot easier.