EU aims to increase transparency and sustainability in global trade

The European Union Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius, is one of the key people behind the European Green Deal and also, by that reason, of the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles. Sinkevičius tells texfash.com how the Strategy works.

Subir Ghosh

5 April 2022

5 minutes

Long Story, Cut Short

The objective of the EU Textiles Strategy is to create a sustainable internal market of textiles and fashion products with direct positive consequences on third countries as well.
The Strategy aims at shifting the entire textiles industry, including the fashion industry, which is in turn closely linked to consumer choice and consumer behaviour.

European Union Commissioner for Environment Virginijus Sinkevičius addressing a press conference on 30 March during the announcement of the European Green Deal.

Man of the Moment European Union Commissioner for Environment Virginijus Sinkevičius addressing a press conference on 30 March during the announcement of the European Green Deal. Christophe Licoppe / EC - Audiovisual Service

Virginijus Sinkevičius is the present Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, at the European Commission. Sinkevičius was from 2017 to 2019 Minister of Economy, and before he was leading the Committee of Economy at the Parliament of Lithuania.

Among his responsibilities as Commissioner are:

Ensuring the environment, oceans and fisheries remain at the core of the European Green Deal;
Presenting a new Biodiversity Strategy for 2030: from Natura2000, deforestation, species and habitats, to sustainable seas and oceans;
Delivering on the Commission’s zero-pollution ambition, including air and water quality and hazardous chemicals;
Leading on a Circular Economy Action Plan to promote the use of sustainable resources;
Effective control and enforcement and respecting the maximum sustainable yield objective;
Developing a new approach for a sustainable blue economy drawing on research, maritime spatial planning, marine renewable energy, blue investment and regional cooperation.

Sinkevičius was one of the key people of the European commission who on 30 March announced the package of European Green Deal proposals to make sustainable products the norm in the EU, boost circular business models and empower consumers for the green transition. These included the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles.

Here, Sinkevičius speaks about the way the Strategy works.

I have seen your video on Twitter (the one with the red hoodie). The subject seems very personal to you. Could you tell us how the personal ideas and sensibilities got translated into political action (w.r.t the EU Textile Strategy)?

Textiles is something that is close to all of us. We all have our favourite clothes, we want them all to be durable and long lasting, and when the time comes we are all frustrated when we cannot repair them.

But at the same time, it's not the only issue we face with textiles. This industry has a huge impact on the environment due to high pollution and waste production levels. Moreover, it is energy and resource-intensive with a negative record on social sustainability.

This is why I made it a priority to address the sustainability of textiles from the very start of my mandate with a comprehensive and all-encompassing strategy. The EU Textiles Strategy is a key deliverable of the European Green Deal and I am proud to see it published after joint efforts with colleagues across services.

Subir Ghosh

SUBIR GHOSH is a Kolkata-based independent journalist-writer-researcher who writes about environment, corruption, crony capitalism, conflict, wildlife, and cinema. He is the author of two books, and has co-authored two more with others. He writes, edits, reports and designs. He is also a professionally trained and qualified photographer.

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The EU Textile Strategy looks at 2030. Do you think it is too long a time? After all, the EU is better placed (with most processes in place) to implement a lot of short-term objectives/measures. Could you elaborate?

The Strategy aims at shifting the entire textiles industry, including the fashion industry, which is in turn closely linked to consumer choice and consumer behaviour. It sets out a full range of short, medium and long-term measures to achieve more durable, repairable and recyclable textiles products made of recycled fibres, free of hazardous substances and produced respecting social rights.

To achieve this, consumers need to change their purchasing patterns and producers need to change their processes. Transforming an entire sector and consumer behaviour by 2030 is actually an incredibly ambitious time-scale. We are embarking on a challenging and promising journey away from fast fashion and ‘buy-use-throw away’.

Even though this is for the EU, since the textiles-fashion industry is global in every sense of the term, do you see the EU Textile Strategy having an impact in other countries (especially outside Europe, mainly SE Asia and also Africa) too?

The objective of the EU Textiles Strategy is to create a sustainable internal market of textiles and fashion products with direct positive consequences on third countries as well.

By this strategy we aim to increase transparency and sustainability in global trade by promoting fairer value chains internationally. In order to do this, we will promote decent working conditions in bilateral and multilateral fora and support third countries to improve working conditions and to comply with international labour standards.

Moreover, our proposal for new EU rules on waste shipments is already trying to tackle the problem of international shipments of waste, as it will allow the export of textile waste to non-OECD countries only under certain conditions. Furthermore, the strategy proposes to develop specific criteria to clarify definitions in order to stop the practice of exporting ‘textile waste’ by labelling it as “second-hand clothes”.

Through all these measures, we will be able to ensure the textile industry is fairer and greener both in the EU and within the whole global textiles market.

By this strategy we aim to increase transparency and sustainability in global trade by promoting fairer value chains internationally. In order to do this, we will promote decent working conditions in bilateral and multilateral for and support third countries to improve working conditions and to comply with international labour standards.

How can you ensure that EU brands and retailers abide by the same principles elsewhere as they do in the EU? Surely a company can follow all norms, rules and laws in the EU, but still over-produce and over-sell elsewhere?

The aim is to encourage greener and fairer practices on a global level, through measures and regulations that apply internally and have positive effects in third countries, and through the promotion of a sustainable textiles industry in international fora. Thanks to the size and power of the EU market, EU standards are deemed to become global.

The EU Textile Strategy needs a set of properly-defined laws now to realise the vision laid down in the Strategy. How do we see this happen, and importantly, how soon?

The Strategy commits the Commission to prepare and implement a set of laws with the aim of achieving a major shift within the industry and amongst consumers by 2030.

Some measures with well-defined timelines include:

The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation which was presented together with the strategy. Work on priority products is to be launched by the end of 2022.
The initiative to address the unintentional release of microplastics in the environment (including from textiles), scheduled for the second half of 2022.
Minimum criteria for all types of environmental claims in the context of the Green Claims Initiative, to be presented in the second half of 2022.
Textiles transition pathway to be adopted by the end of 2022, with the co-creation process with stakeholders taking place in the second quarter of 2022.
EU Toolbox against counterfeiting to be adopted by 2023.
Proposal for harmonised EU extended producer responsibility rules for textiles with eco-modulation of fees is expected in 2023 as part of the forthcoming revision of the Waste Framework Directive.
Dedicated study launched with a view to proposing mandatory targets for preparing for re-use and recycling of textile waste as part of the review of the EU waste legislation foreseen for 2024.
Work on the environmental footprint of apparel and footwear products with representatives of the textile industry ongoing and due for completion by 2024.

The aim is to encourage greener and fairer practices on a global level, through measures and regulations that apply internally and have positive effects in third countries, and through the promotion of a sustainable textiles industry in international fora. Thanks to the size and power of the EU market, EU standards are deemed to become global.