Mother of all alliances set to accelerate fashion's climate action

The Global Fashion Agenda and the secretariat of the UNFCCC have announced a new alliance on climate action in the fashion industry. The first big event would be the Global Fashion Summit in June.

Staff Writer

18 March 2022

3 minutes

Long Story, Cut Short

The GFA-UNFCCC alliance intends to accelerate the impact of the UN Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action which aims to drive the fashion industry to net-zero emissions no later than 2050.
The organisations will collaborate "to unite fashion leaders and core stakeholders to facilitate knowledge sharing, impactful partnerships, and the implementation of bold actions needed to meet the Fashion Charter targets.
The alliance will kick off with the 'Global Fashion Summit: Copenhagen Edition 2022' on 7-8 June in Copenhagen, Denmark.

It is the age of alliances, and this looks the mother of all alliances--the leading forum for sustainability in fashion joining hands with the secretariat that is at the pivot of all climate action in the world.

On Thursday 17 March, the Copenhagen-based nonprofit Gloal Fashion Agenda (GFA) announced with the UN Climate Change secretariat (UNFCCC) to accelerate the fashion industry’s climate action. The partnership is effective immediately.

According to the announcement, the collaboration "will be activated around the organisations’ prestigious forums including GFA’s Global Fashion Summit and UNFCCC’s annual Conference of Parties (COP)." Through these forums, the organisations will collaborate "to unite fashion leaders and core stakeholders to facilitate knowledge sharing, impactful partnerships, and the implementation of bold actions needed to meet the Fashion Charter targets."

The alliance will kick off with the 'Global Fashion Summit: Copenhagen Edition 2022' on 7-8 June at the Royal Opera House in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Called the Copenhagen Fashion Summit (CFS) earlier, the Global Fashion Summit (GFS) has the right theme for the occasion: 'Alliances For a New Era'. The idea this time is to "form previously inconceivable alliances within the fashion industry" and also examine atypical cross-industry alliances, in a bid to accelerate the transition to a net positive reality.

The UNFCCC will, through the Fashion Charter, "contribute to the Summit content by sharing insights on its progress and what further solutions are needed. The UNFCCC will also hold its annual Fashion Charter meeting at the Summit, where the organisations will convene relevant experts to join resources and discuss tools that can enable the sector to achieve its climate targets laid out in the charter. The alliance will also continue for future editions of Global Fashion Summit in other locations, in addition to Copenhagen."

Big Plans Ahead

Much is being planned after the GFS: the GFA and UNFCCC to raise awareness among leaders on the most pressing issues and priorities and urging commitments from industry leaders to drive change within social, environmental and circular dimensions. These would take the form of publications and reports, such as the Fashion CEO Agenda, and inform Fashion Charter meetings during the next COP--the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP27) to the UNFCCC will take place in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, later this year.

The GFA-UNFCCC alliance intends to accelerate the impact of the UN Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action which aims to drive the fashion industry to net-zero emissions no later than 2050 in line with keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees. The IPCC Sixth Assessment Report, released in February, focused on: ‘Impacts, Adaption and Vulnerability’. It positioned climate justice and equity at the forefront, emphasising the need for intersectional solutions and diverse knowledge inputs for adaption.

The Fashion Industry Charter, which contains the vision to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, was launched at COP24 in Katowice, Poland, in December 2018 and renewed at COP26 in Glasgow, UK, in November 2021. The Charter signatories and supporting organizations want to work collaboratively to deliver on the commitments enshrined in the document.

The first progress report of the Charter, published in June 2021 ahead of the COP26 at Glasgow, had detailed climate action milestones in the fashion sector to date and provided a forward-looking vision for future industry priorities.