Water Impacts of the Fashion Industry

Published on by in Academic

Water Impacts of the Fashion Industry

Experts Discussed How the Fashion Industry is Approaching Water Sustainability in the Face of a Changing Climate and Increasing Competition Over Resources

Water is central to sustainable development

Global leaders, businesses, and organisations are currently working on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which will be agreed upon in collaboration with the UN next year. Rami Abdelrahman, programme coordinator for the Sweden Textile Water Initiative believes that a dedicated SDG on water is crucial for guiding water resource users towards sustainable management.

"Peak water" is being taken increasingly seriously

For the fashion industry, access to water is essential for cotton cultivation, textile dyeing and finishing. With water use predicted to increase by50% between 2007 and 2025 in developing countries and 18%in developed ones, there is a growing awareness of the potential challenges that come from increasing competition for this finite resource.

These concerns are translating into collaboration. In Bangladesh, thePartnership for Cleaner Textile(PaCT) brings together buyers, factories and technical specialists to improve its textile wet processing sector. TheBetter Mill Initiativein China is focused on solutions for the conservation of water and energy, pollution, and improved chemical management. It began as a collaboration between Solidaridad and H&M and has since involved brands including C&A, Primark and New Look.

In Sweden too, a sector wide collaboration is underway between the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) and around 30 Swedish brands to assess water risk in supply chains and develop industry guidelines for the sustainable use of water resources in processes.

However, it's not all good news as Cate Lamb, head of CDP's water programme points to CDP research indicating that water-related issues are still low on the agenda of business leaders across all sectors.

There's a strong business case for the fashion industry to manage its water footprint

CDP's Global Water Report 2013found that almost 60% of 500 global companies have already experienced the detrimental impacts of water. In 2011 for example, floods in Thaliand forced Intel to cut its revenue forecast by $1bn and Gap was forced to cut its profit forecast by 22% after drought cut into the cotton crop in Texas.

There is a clear business case in water as a cost-carrier of energy, waste and chemicals. As Solidaridad's senior programme manager, Marieke Weerdesteijn points: "if excessive water is used in textile dyeing, it needs to be heated, more process chemicals are needed and [then] after the process treated in the effluent treatment plant. When you add these costs, water saving measures do show a good return on investment."

Often though as Laila Petrie of WWF says, the real business case for responsible water stewardship isn't about profit and loss, but about brand reputation and securing a social licence to operate.

Source: The Guardian

Read More Related Content On This Topic - Click Here

Media

Taxonomy