Climate

A new Roadmap has urged global fashion brands sourcing from major garment-producing hubs to fund and implement a Just Energy Transition across their supply chains, warning that persistent financing gaps, weak adaptation measures and price-driven purchasing practices are shifting climate risks onto suppliers and workers throughout production networks.

Continued climate inaction could place around 70% of projected market value at risk by 2040, while delayed regulatory compliance may significantly erode profitability. A new analysis by the Apparel Impact Institute (AII) has modelled the financial exposure associated with carbon pricing, supply-chain disruption and transition risks, outlining how early mitigation strategies alter cost trajectories and long-term enterprise resilience.

Cascale’s State of the Industry Report 2026 assessed decarbonisation progress in the apparel, footwear and textiles industry using verified Higg FEM data from 2023 and 2024. The analysis showed emissions continued to rise, driven by energy use in manufacturing, with coal dependency, limited electrification and minimal renewable adoption constraining progress towards climate targets across major producing countries.

As climate risk, regulatory scrutiny, and supply-chain volatility intensify, the question facing the industry is no longer whether alternative materials can be developed, but whether they can be scaled with reliability, accountability, and long-term resilience.

Locally produced circular sportswear could have a smaller environmental footprint than a conventional polyester garment reference, a new lifecycle and microfibre assessment has modelled. Renewable-energy use, shorter transport routes, and circular design choices together could reduce climate impacts and microplastic emissions, the researchers have contended.

Climate action NGO WRAP has unveiled a new UK Textiles Pact Roadmap to fast-track circularity and environmental progress across the industry. Despite per-tonne cuts in carbon and water use, soaring production volumes and linear business models threaten to erase those gains. The Roadmap strengthens collaboration, targets upstream emissions, and supports policy reforms for a resilient circular future.

The growing ease of online returns is redrawing the map of fashion logistics. What began as a customer service feature has become an environmental liability, adding distance, fuel use, and waste to every transaction. The system built for convenience now defines how much carbon fashion sends back into circulation, a new study has pointed out.

A new University of Sydney–led study shows that low-cost, sustainable cooling strategies could safeguard millions of garment workers facing extreme heat. Simulations of Bangladeshi factories revealed that reflective roofs, fans, and access to drinking water reduce core temperature and maintain productivity, offering scalable protection for an industry employing over four million people.

The new report Now or Never from Collective Fashion Justice claims to present fashion’s first methane footprint. Promoting a phase-out of animal-derived materials, it casts the industry as a major climate offender. Yet scrutiny suggests its arguments rely on ideology rather than robust analysis, raising concerns about credibility, methodology, and overlooked mitigation pathways.

Cascale and Worldly have developed a standardised methodology for apparel and footwear companies using the Higg MSI to calculate FLAG emissions. The method separates FLAG from aggregated GHG data, integrates land use change figures, and applies base and conservative assumptions. It delivers consistent baselines, enabling compliance with Science-Based Targets initiative requirements and alignment with forthcoming GHG Protocol FLAG reporting guidance.