The Apparel Impact Institute’s 2024 annual report opens with a compliment sandwich — arguably, one that the textile trade has been choking down since 2021.
“We’re halfway to 2030 — a critical year by which the fashion industry must achieve a 50 percent reduction in carbon emissions to meet our climate goals — and while we’ve made progress, it’s not enough,” said the nonprofit, better known by its acronym, Aii.
The climatic cost of the sector’s scant sustainable solutions is hot on the trail of reaching degrees that will decimate the ocean’s remaining coral reefs, per 2018 IPCC data.
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“The cost of inaction is monumental,” Lewis Perkins, president of Aii, wrote in the report’s opening letter. “As Aii tracks industry progress, the findings emphasize the urgency of the moment.…Many scientists and climate experts now warn that we are more realistically heading toward 2 degrees Celsius or higher, unless urgent action is taken.”
If the industry fails to accelerate its efforts to meet this goal, he continued, its carbon footprint will continue to grow unchecked. For context, the fashion industry generated an estimated 897 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2021, per Aii’s last annual report. If unchecked, 2030’s emissions could reach 1.2 billion metric tons.
“This will lead to further acceleration of global climate impacts, with severe economic and environmental impacts that will devastate both people and the planet,” Perkins said. “But here’s the good news: many scale-ready solutions exist, and momentum is building.”
To that end, the California-based industry advocate’s resulting 73-page report detailed the greenhouse gas reductions attained through Aii’s programs, totaling 8.58 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions “saved over useful life” since 2018. Last year alone saved roughly 2.7 million metric tons, though the Cascale partner is shy of hitting its goal by about 92 percent.
“To achieve this industry’s ambitious climate goals, it’s imperative that every stakeholder leverages their influence to drive tangible change,” Perkins said. “A joint effort among brands and retailers is essential to create conditions where suppliers are motivated and capable of making these investments.”
On the topic of financing such motivations is the organization’s Fashion Climate Fund. The $250 million call to arms to identify, fund and propagate verifiable solutions for decarbonizing apparel and textile production has “mobilized” $156 million for supply chain decarbonization to date. Up 42 percent year-over-year, the “catalytic capital” accounts for 66 percent of its pooled $250 million target and 7.8 percent of its overarching goal of unlocking $2 billion by 2030.
“Financial institutions are poised to offer better finance options provided there’s a robust pipeline of suppliers ready to embrace decarbonization efforts,” Perkins said. “The acceleration of these efforts occurs when the industry aligns its business strategies, resources and investments toward the most impactful solutions.”
As a result, suppliers have nearly doubled (49 percent) greenhouse gas emissions reductions over useful life in 2024 against 2023, per the report. More than 1,250 facilities and 9,600 farms were reached through Aii’s Supplier Journey from 2018-24. This framework, formerly known as the Climate Action Approach, works to support suppliers’ decarbonization efforts.
This includes the low-carbon thermal energy roadmap published last month, which outlines steps industry players can take in the near, mid and long term to implement electrification effectively in pursuit of net zero.
“With the release of our roadmap we have a clear direction of travel for the sector’s largest supply chain emission source: thermal energy in wet processing facilities,” Pauline Op de Beeck, Aii’s climate portfolio director, said in the report, noting the “fascinating” work done with GEI in effort to help partners strategize. “Without supply chain investment using the plays in our playbook, we cannot achieve the vision that the roadmap and our strategy has set out.”
The nonprofit also “remains focused” on its Climate Solutions Portfolio — a registry of credible carbon-squashing solutions — working to “strengthen supplier financing mechanisms and ensure decarbonization strategies are accessible across the industry,” the report said.
“In this round of grants, we bridged innovation gaps by supporting solution innovators who have leading-edge, impactful and practical technologies,” said Kurt Kipka, Aii’s chief impact officer. “Collectively, these solutions have the potential to reduce 24,407 tCO2e within the first 12 months of project implementation.”
Also of note was Aii’s “digital transformation.” In 2024, the Clean by Design promoter shifted its software and technology focus to this process, which “integrates digital technologies in all areas of an organization to improve operations, efficiency, partner experiences and service delivery value,” the company said. Aii overhauled its tech strategy to meet 2030 deadlines with efforts like forming strategic partnerships to improve the delivery of services (like the Carbon Toolkit) and building a robust, reliable data repository.
“While digital transformation may seem like a common strategy implemented by organizations across all industries, its impact relies heavily on commitment to a shared vision and execution,” Dan Xavier, Aii’s head of software, said in the report. “These are areas where Aii truly excels, and I’m already excited at the progress we’ve made in such a short time as a smaller organization. The industry will soon see not only Aii’s innovative mind at work but also our ability to take an idea and make it into a reality with all industry stakeholders in mind.”