The total emissions per product sold by Swedish fashion brands are 7.5–10 kg CO2e, while the average company has emissions of about 25 tonnes CO2e per million SEK revenue. And—hold your breath—an overwhelming 95% of their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are produced in their global supply chains (Scope 3). That's production and fuel/energy related activities.
The findings are from a landmark report 2022 Progress Report: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reported For Year 2020, published earlier this week by the Swedish Textile Initiative for Climate Action (STICA) The report—a treasure trove of information— focuses on Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. In all, data from 42 member companies were analysed for the report.
According to the report, five companies stand out with significantly higher per-unit emissions—19 kg CO2e or higher—more than five times higher than the lowest group of seven companies that are below 3.5 kg CO2e. The reason for some of the differences may be because of the varying types of products sold—from outdoor apparel and shoes to baby clothes, lingerie, and socks.
The report marked four companies with significantly higher emissions—60 tonnes per million SEK and more—and eight companies at 15 tonnes per million SEK and less. Here too, what needed to be kept in mind were the different types of products and their economic value in relation to the material and production emissions. But broadly, companies producing low-priced products can have relatively low emissions per unit sold, but when one looks at per-revenue figures, the reverse is true.
A number of facts have emerged from the data analysis:
- In many instances, H&M was excluded from the overall analysis as the volume of H&M’s emissions mean they skew the results for all companies. “Where they are excluded, this is clearly indicated. H&M alone stands for about 91% of the total reported emissions from STICA members.”
- For most member companies, the majority of emissions come from the production of sold products. Emissions from the use-phase and consumer transport were not included. “On an aggregated level, Scope 1 and 2 emissions only represent about 5% of the total emissions by STICA members. The remaining 95% covered by Scope 3 is, in turn, dominated by emissions from production.”
The catch: the aggregate hides the internal variations between the members, and this can vary significantly in certain cases.
“Most companies’ Scope 1 emissions represent 0.5-2% of company emissions, and for Scope 2 about 2-8%. But for a few companies this is significantly higher: 40% for Scope 1 and 10% for Scope 2. This is primarily due to different business models (rental and laundry) and direct ownership of manufacturing sites. For Scope 3, the emissions for most companies represent 95% or more of emissions, but there are also a few outliers here as well whose emissions represent between 40% to 80% of their total Scope 3 emissions. In summary, most companies within STICA follow the average, but there are a few outliers that differ from the bulk of the members,” the report said.
Under Scope 3, transportation and distribution accounted for 1% of total emissions and production was 7%. Fuel and energy-related activities (under Scope 3) make up a whopping 87% of all emissions. It is clear where most work needs to be done.
