The fashion industry is one of the largest industrial sectors in the world. With its quickly expanding market, the fashion industry is also a major sector with a carbon footprint.

The industry’s nature with fast fashion and its continuous market expansion is a significant contributor for climate change.

The environmental impact of this industry is driven by its different life cycles of clothing manufacturing, including production, transportation, consumption and disposal.

The industry is facing a change rapidly. Different environmental groups are addressing these industries’ carbon emissions and focusing more on environmental sustainability.

We will discuss the overall carbon emission of the fashion industry in this post.

How Much Is the Fashion Industry Carbon Emissions?

The fashion industry is responsible for around 10% of global carbon emission. This is a report according to UNEP. Obviously the fashion industry is a trillion dollar industry that pollutes the environment.

But which segments of the fashion industry emits the most carbon. According to global reports by different organizations we found that the carbon emission of the fashion industry can be broken down into several stages.

The most contributing stages are raw material sourcing and manufacturing. Another key segment is transportation and after use disposal of clothing.

Sources:

Material Sourcing

Textile follows one of the most carbon intensive production processes. Its supply chain includes sourcing natural or man-made fibers in large amounts. This industry uses a vast amount of water and energy.

Also, different types of chemicals and petrochemicals are used for man-made clothing like polyester, nylon. Synthetic cotton contributes 60% of the overall fashion industry’s fiber requirement according to European Environment Agency

As a result synthetic material sourcing contributes to the use of fossil fuels and these intensive reliance on the fossil files results in carbon emission.

Product Manufacturing Process

The first step of this fashion industry is to manufacture from the raw materials. The use of extensive energy contributes to the carbon emission in this stage. The manufacturing process includes spinning, weaving, dyeing and finishing.

All of these stages contribute to high energy use. Some of the dying processes include using chemicals.

That also contributes to environmental degradation. The energy sector relies on fossil fuel or coal industry to fulfill the high energy use.

Renewable sources are scarce in these manufacturing plants. This also contributes to carbon emission.

Transportation

Transportation includes the global supply chain of clothing. Fast fashion heavily relies on the global supply chain. The industry is vastly dependent on manual labor.

The fashion industry uses low-cost countries (like Bangladesh) for manufacturing the products and the manufactured product is generally produced in the global south.

Most consumers live in the global north. So, transportation plays a very important role to bring the product to the consumers.

It results in emitting carbon. This long-distance shipping and supply chain increases the overall carbon footprint of the fashion industry.

Consumer Use And Disposal

The carbon emitted from the sector is just not limited to storing the product or selling it. Also, a significant amount of carbon is emitted for storing the garments in between the use.

The purchased product by the consumers, uses a carbon emitting process to wash and dry the garments when they use the product.

This can also release microplastics into the environment and pollute the environment. The fashion industry uses this fast fashion alternatively also known as “throw away fashion culture”.

It results in millions of tons of textile waste. Every year much of the textile waste ends up in landfills. it is considered to be harmful chemical and gas sources that pollute the environment.

What Causes The High Carbon Emissions

There are several factors that can cause high carbon emissions in the fashion industry. The rise of fast fashion use of synthetic fabrics, and the globalized nature of the supply chain can be attributed as the primary driver of high carbon emissions.

Fast Fashion

The use of fast fashion is also characterized by the quick turnaround. Disposable garment products to push the consumers with high purchase frequent purchase.

This type of fashion is also known as fast fashion. The brands release multiple types of products on a frequent basis and promote the product for over consumption.

The over consumption and overproduction of this fast fashion results in textile waste. This fast fashion culture heavily relies on the low cost manufacturing countries to minimize the cost. That also results in a high rate of fast fashion carbon footprint of the industry for shipping the product.

Synthetic Fabrics

Synthetic fabrics are also known as man-made fabrics. These include polyester, acrylic, nylon. These are some of the low cost fabrics.

These fabrics are durable for manufacturing clothes. These fabrics come with significant environmental costs.

Petroleum based resources and chemicals are substantial users of high energy. This also can contribute to global microplastic pollution. And it is also a major contributor to carbon emission.

Complex Supply Chain

The fashion industry relies heavily on globalization. Manufacturing fast fashion products requires a low cost country. This industry uses a high amount of manual labor.

That’s why the fashion industry heavily relies on the global south to manufacture the product and primary users are global north countries (like EU and LATAM countries).

The use of long-distance shipping of the raw materials and the final garments creates a carbon footprint on account of transportation.

The primary roots of transportation are sea freight and air freight. Both of these transportation methods are carbon intensive.

Impacts Of Carbon Emissions

The carbon emissions of the fashion industry contribute in several phases of the environmental and social aspects.

Some of the aspects include climate change, environmental impact and social impact. The fashion industry heavily relies on carbon emissions to contribute to global warming.

This industry uses a high carbon footprint to reduce the cost and increase profit. As a result, it contributes to the global greenhouse increase.

It also leads to the global temperature rise and extreme weather events. Climate change also disrupts the ecosystem.

The environmental impact of carbon footprint also contributes to environmental issues, like water pollution and soil degradation.

The dying process releases toxic chemicals into the rivers and contaminates the wildlife. It contaminates the fresh drinking water at a large scale.

Use of pesticides and fertilizers also contributed to the environmental damage. Not only that. The social impact is also dangerous. It impacts the workers of garment factories who are often exposed to dangerous chemicals.

They also face poor working conditions without any proper health care, labor protection, or safety measures. As a result, the living condition of the female workers is always on the verge.

Added to that, the low wage makes their life suffocating. The industry needs to be more responsible and reduce the negative effects of mass production of fast fashion items.

What Should Be Done to Reduce The Carbon Footprints?

The fashion industry needs to recognize the urgency of reducing carbon footprint. To do this, they need to take several initiatives.

Things like using sustainable materials, energy efficient manufacturing processes and reduced carbon emitting practices can reduce the carbon emissions.

The government also can help to reduce carbon emissions by adopting regulatory policies. In these initiatives, using sustainable materials for the fashion industry shifts to a sustainable use of organic materials like cotton, hemp or bamboo. These materials have lower environmental impact.

Man made chemicals and fibers use more water. The companies need to experiment with this innovative and biodegradable product. Materials like recyclable fabrics and energy efficient plants can improve the carbon footprint.

The companies can use renewable energy sources like wind or solar power or nuclear power. Some of the factories use state-of-the art technologies to reduce water waste and energy consumption. Some of the manufacturing plants are exploring different ways to offset the waste.

They practice a greener manufacturing process. Some factories take initiatives to plant trees and invest in renewable energy. They must prioritize reducing their emissions to make a further environmental impact.

The government also can take the initiative to encourage the manufacturers to reduce the carbon. They put carbon taxes in a way that provides stricter regulation for fashion companies. In that way the manufacturers can improve the environmental impact of their product.

Last Warning For Carbon Emissions

The fashion industry changes heavily. To reduce the carbon footprint companies need to take sustainable practices and eco-friendly materials in manufacturing. They also should promote renewable energy to reduce cost.

The brands and the government can play a significant role in reducing carbon footprint by using sustainable fashion adaptation. It needs continuous improvement, innovation and commitment to collectively reduce the carbon footprint.

Fashion Industry Carbon Emissions is 10% of global carbon emission