The UN Climate Change-convened Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action (Fashion Charter) and the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) are working on a new guidance to help apparel and footwear companies more efficiently and consistently measure their purchased goods and services (PG&S) emissions.
- This is now available for public consultation, with inputs being welcomed until 30 November.
Scope 3 Emissions: For apparel and footwear brands and retailers, PG&S emissions result from all the value chain activities that go into making finished products, from raw materials to fabric manufacturing to product assembly.
- For companies operating in the apparel and footwear sector, Scope 3 emissions are usually the vast majority of their total emissions.
- For every company setting a Science Based Target, the foundation of the target is an inventory of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across Scopes 1, 2, and 3.
- While the GHG Protocol has published technical guidance for calculating PG&S emissions and other Scope 3 categories, the instructions for computing PG&S emissions are generic and not specific to the apparel and footwear sector.
The Guidance: The purpose of the guidance is to provide apparel and footwear sector-specific guidance for calculating PG&S emissions so that:
- There is greater consistency in how apparel and footwear companies develop their PG&S inventories;
- Companies can overcome common challenges faced by the sector, for example the need to use a combination of primary and secondary data;
- Companies starting the process of measuring PG&S emissions can do so more efficiently and in line with industry practice – which in turn should result in more companies measuring emissions and setting targets;
- Over time, with more consistent inventories, the apparel and footwear sector will be able to more accurately gauge its progress towards the GHG reductions needed to stay aligned with SBTs.
