Ready for some positive news? A couple of days ago I got that from an unlikely sector, fashion and H&M. I never imagined I could highlight a fast fashion brand, but thanks to the leadership of Global Fashion Agenda it's happening.
Quick context: Thanks to Greene Circles and Ingrun Von Keudell, I got involved in helping advance sustainability in fashion. Fashion is responsible for more GHG emissions than heavy polluting industries like aviation and more than France, Germany, and the UK combined. It produces 100 billion new pieces of clothing annually, 30% of which go to a landfill or are burned without ever being sold or worn. Fashion is a symbol of our time…one built on cheap oil, synthetic materials, and disposability that fuels our consumptive habits. It feels impossible to change, but then you see these glimmers of hope.
~60% of GHG emissions from fashion come from the energy powering the textile factories. This is great news because we know how to scale clean energy. Encouraged by this opening for impact we in the Greene Circles community have hosted salons with supply chain, energy industry, entrepreneurs, investors, and fashion executives to share learnings and strategies that are working in other sectors that fashion can adopt, rather than reinvent the wheel. As an energy tech focused professional, the energy opportunity, impact, and roadmap was very clear to me, but no fashion brand was taking the baton to lead.
Fast forward to this week's news, and we have an announcement that Global Fashion Agenda and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners organized BESTSELLER and H&M to invest in the first utility scale offshore wind project in Bangladesh where they have factories.
This is a big step. It's much easier and cheaper to buy renewable energy credits and make spurious green marketing claims. Leading and investing in new clean energy infrastructure takes a commitment that we have not seen in the fashion industry, and it couldn't come at a more critical moment. Inditex Zara it's time to join. Nike just do it.
There are lots of other critical issues that need to be tackled as well for a sustainable world for all, but we must celebrate these big steps along the way, and we must hold each other accountable. Global Fashion Agenda, H&M, BESTSELLER, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners great first step. We'll be watching your development and bringing others in to make a difference.
Federica Marchionni brava! Excellent job to the many others behind this work as well.
Nicholai Lassen Michael Beutler Yetunde Beutler Vanessa Barboni Hallik Bessma A. Merisha Enoe Caroline Brown Edward Felsenthal Cheryl Martin Shilla Kim-Parker John O'Leary Ingrun Von Keudell
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Founder and Board Member at Agere Srl
6dWell done, congratulations.