Global Fashion Group Explores Carbon Offsetting

Planet Earth is rich in natural resources. Human demand, however, is rapidly outgrowing natural supply. Good stewardship of natural resources is essential to protect the planet and the wellbeing of future generations. According to the IPCC, continued trajected emission growth will bring rise to global temperatures, extreme weathers and subsequent consequences for people, business, and our planet.

Fashion is a multi-trillion-dollar industry that contributes up to four per cent of global CO2 emissions annually. Our Fashion on Climate report outlines that if the industry proceeds on the current trajectory, it will fall short of the decarbonisation targets required to conform with the 1.5-degree pathway.

Increasingly, fashion companies recognise the magnitude of the challenge. Many players have set science-based targets aligned with the 1.5-degree pathway. An aligned industry direction is required to take advantage of further decarbonisation opportunities.

Global Fashion Group’s sustainability agenda  

Global Fashion Group (GFG) is dedicated to transforming the ways in which it works in a bid to reduce its carbon intensity. GFG have long-term commitments to Science Based Targets and are working towards commitments related to sustainable materials, renewable energy and low emissions transport.

Carbon offsetting

Concurrent with this, since 2020, GFG has maintained carbon neutrality across its own operations (Scope 1 & 2) and customer deliveries (Scope 3) through a robust carbon offsetting portfolio. While GFG recognises that offsetting is not the primary tool to fundamentally address the climate crisis, its commitment to carbon neutrality allows it to support climate positive actions outside of the business, while creating an important impetus for change internally.

Through the purchasing of verifiable carbon credits originating from certified renewable energy projects, 186,492 tonnes of verified CO2 emission reductions have been offset over two years. These projects have supported the development of low carbon energy solutions in emerging markets – Brazil, China and India. All Global Fashion Group’s carbon projects are certified under international offset standards recognised by the International Carbon Reduction and Offset Alliance, meaning in addition to their carbon benefits, these projects generate social benefits to the local communities, For example one project created 960 jobs, 25% of which were held by women.

The framework

To aid responsible offsetting best practice, GFG has also developed an open source 6-part assessment framework supporting offset purchasing:

1. Type of project(s): The type of carbon credit project(s) and the activities undertaken (e.g. renewable energy projects, reforestation, small hydro projects etc) and their alignment with the company’s objectives
2. Geographical alignment with GFG: Alignment between the location(s) of the offset projects: e.g. in  GFG’s operating regions or where our suppliers are located;
3. Certified Projects: Extent to which the offset projects are certified by international recognised standards such as Certified Emission Reduction (CER), Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and Gold Standard (GS) which are approved offset standards by International Carbon Reduction and Offset Alliance (ICROA);
4. Verified co-benefits: Whether the project generates additional socio-economic benefits (e.g. job creation, better healthcare) and whether these are verified;
5. Offering Renewable Energy Certificate (REC): Whether the provider can offer RECs in conjunction with the carbon credit(s), which also enables GFG to reach its renewable energy goals; and
6. Cost of offset: Price per tonne of the carbon credit.