UN to track brand progress on climate action

EXCLUSIVE – The UN’s Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action has confirmed it will track apparel brand progress in reducing greenhouses gases (GHGs) and implementing other measures to meet their pledge to the Charter. A spokesperson from the UN told Apparel Insider it is in the process of mapping and reviewing existing public reporting tools on sustainability by brands. “Later in the year … [there will be] a public update on the progress with activities/ roadmaps to implement the principles of the charter,” they told us. Adidas, Esprit, H&M, Target, PVH and Nike are among a host of brands to have signed the Charter in recent months. Companies signing up commit to implementing the principles enshrined in the charter which include reducing 30 per cent of GHG emissions along their value chain by 2030.

The spokesperson told Apparel Insider: “Progress with the initiative will be tracked using existing public reporting tools like sustainability reports, CDP, etc. Currently there is a work underway to map and review existing best practice reporting, programmes and tools. A working group is looking at recommendations for platform members for reporting and tracking progress with charter principles.”

Asked about the actual process of becoming a Charter for Climate Action signatory, they told us: “A high-level commitment is required for companies to join the charter platform. Any company or organisation professionally engaged in the fashion sector … committing to the principles of the Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action may join. CEO level commitment/signature is required.”

Asked whether there is a risk that this initiative overlaps with many others in the fashion sector, they said: “There is no other fashion specific initiative on climate. Fashion Industry Charter is an industry led initiative shaped and developed by the fashion sector for the fashion sector. It is a platform that welcomes all relevant initiatives, programmes and tools that the fashion industry works with. This includes for example Global Fashion Agenda, Sustainable Apparel Coalition, Better Cotton Initiative, Swedish Fashion Initiative and many others who have joined the charter as supporting organisations.  

“This initiative is not to reinvent the wheel or to duplicate efforts but rather presents a collaboration mechanism on climate that brings all solutions together, explores opportunities to scale and complement them as needed. By using input from these different initiatives, tools and guidelines, seven working groups are hard at work to identify solutions that are available and ready to be scaled and to define what best of action looks like.”