The Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor evaluates the transparency and integrity of companies’ climate strategies, with the objectives of identifying good practices and highlighting areas for improvement in the corporate climate accountability system.
This section focuses on the fashion sector and features analysis based on detailed case studies of adidas,
H&M Group, Inditex, lululemon and Shein.
We find that some fashion companies’ climate strategies show promising signs of improvement.
However, limited transparency on implementation plans, reliance on false solutions and a lack of commitment to move beyond fast fashion undermine their credibility.
• Although some fashion companies have significantly improved their GHG emission reduction targets over the past years, the credibility of these targets depends on measures to implement key transitions.
• Targets to procure renewable electricity within supply chains are emerging, but they are often not substantiated by credible plans to electrify production processes. Companies talk about coal phase-out but still rely on fossil gas and biomass – options that do not substantially reduce emissions and risk locking in carbon-intensive technologies.
• Transparency on supply chain energy consumption remains limited, making it challenging to assess progress across the sector. H&M Group stands out as a positive example of transparency with its disclosure of supply chain energy balances.
• Efforts to move beyond fast fashion business models are lacking and fragmented. Some companies have started to publish more information regarding circularity and sustainable fibres. However, they still fall short of making clear commitments to reduce overproduction and embrace circularity.
