This research analyses two scenarios for the industry’s abatement efforts:

1. Current pace trajectory.
   If the industry continues to embrace current decarbonisation initiatives at the current pace, emissions will be capped at around 2.1 billion tonnes a year by 2030, around the same as they are now. This would leave levels at nearly double the maximum required to stay on the 1.5-degree pathway.
2. Accelerated abatement.
   To align with the 1.5-degree pathway over the next 10 years,
   the fashion industry should intensify its efforts. In practice, that means embracing accelerated abatement, which is estimated to reduce annual emissions to around 1.1 billion tonnes, around half of today’s figure. The immediate focus of accelerated abatement should be upstream operations, where around 60% of emissions savings are possible, in particular from increased use of renewable energy, through collaborative efforts supported by brands and retailers. Actions relating to brands’ own operations have the potential to deliver around 20% of the reduction, with the remainder coming from changes in consumer behaviour. By 2030, these efforts will need to have created a significantly reformed fashion landscape, in which, for example, one out of five garments are traded through a circular business model.

The good news for the fashion industry is that many of the required actions can be delivered at
a moderate cost. Around 90% of the accelerated abatement can be delivered below a cost of around USD50 per tonne of GHG emissions. Around 55% of the actions required will lead to net cost savings on an industrywide basis. The remaining actions will require incentivisation in the form of consumer demand or regulations to deliver abatement. Additionally, around 60% of the abatement will require upfront capital, where brands and retailers will need to support and collaborate with value chain players to invest for the long-term benefit of society and the environment.
 

The scale of change required implies a need for bold commitments. Stakeholders throughout the value chain should be willing to make bold commitments, followed by equally bold actions, transparency, collaboration and joint investment. Brands and suppliers need to step up engagement with policy makers, support the roll out of renewable energy and drive end-of-use collections for recycling.
 

Beyond 2030, the challenge becomes even greater. To stay on the 1.5-degree pathway, the industry needs to go beyond this vision of accelerated abatement to fundamentally redefine business models and current imperatives of economic growth and rising consumerism. For a prosperous future and an habitable earth, the industry’s ingenuity and creative spirit will be required to decouple value creation from volume growth and to move from commitments to actions.