Driving Force for Urgent Climate Action
As time runs out on meeting the 1.5°C climate target, the Textile Exchange’s newly announced 2030 Strategy: Climate+ aims to ratchet up joint industry action.
One thing all people have in common is that we come into contact with various textiles every single day, from the clothing we wear to the furnishings in our homes. Can you imagine how much climate impact from fiber and material production could be reduced if even a fraction of each item was produced in a more sustainable way?
That is what Textile Exchange set out to do when we announced our new 2030 Strategy: Climate+ (pronounced Climate-Plus) during its 2019 Textile Sustainability Conference. Under the Climate+ strategic direction, Textile Exchange will be the driving force for urgent climate action with a goal of 35-45% reduced CO2 emissions from textile fiber and material production by 2030.
Climate science, including the UN IPCC report from October 2018 titled “Global Warming of 1.5°C…,” makes it clear that we have a limited time window in which to act and if we do not act soon, we lock in certain climate impacts that will negatively impact a multitude of areas. Textile Exchange recognizes that if we don’t successfully combat climate change, we may lose the opportunity to address these impact areas.
For years, Textile Exchange has promoted practices, standards, and resources that benefit the climate. Adopting the Climate+ Strategy is a way to bring the priority of climate, biodiversity, and carbon to the heart of our work with preferred fibers and materials. The “+” in Climate+ allows Textile Exchange to prioritize climate while continuing to address other impact areas that are interconnected with climate in most situations (e.g. water, biodiversity, forests, soil and animal welfare). The “+” is also an acknowledgement that Textile Exchange cannot achieve this new 2030 goal of 35-45% reduction in CO2 emissions from preferred fiber and material production on its own. Achieving the 2030 Strategy: Climate+ goal will require strong partnerships to accelerate adoption of existing tools as well as enable disruptive innovation around new business models and zero carbon materials.
Join us in achieving this goal!