Top fashion brands lack ambition and transparency on climate: report

A wide majority of the world’s top 250 fashion brands are not doing or disclosing enough on decarbonisation, according to a new report by Fashion Revolution.

In the Global Fashion Transparency Index 2024, the not-for-profit  – created in response to the Rana Plaza collapse that claimed the lives of more than 1,000 garment workers in Bangladesh in 2013 – ranked 250 of the world’s largest fashion brands on decarbonisation initiatives and transparency.

The assessment suggests the industry is not on track to support the mid and long-term goals of the Paris Agreement: despite Scope 3 making up 96% of apparel companies’ carbon footprint on average, less than half (47%) of brands have an SBTi-validated decarbonisation target covering their entire supply chain.

Even fewer of them (42%) disclose progress against these targets, and nearly a quarter (24%) make no decarbonisation disclosures at all. Perhaps more worrying still, 42 of the 105 brands that do disclose progress have reported emissions increases from their baselines.

Puma, Gucci and H&M stand out as top sustainability performers

While the average overall score for all 250 companies was just 18%, some brands stand out for their performance: Puma was the top-rated firm at 75%, followed by Gucci (74%) and H&M (61%).

H&M made significant progress towards its SBTi in 2023: a 29% reduction in Scope 1, 21% in Scope 2 and 22% in Scope 3, putting it on track to meet its 56% reduction target by 2030. Its Head of Sustainability, Leyla Ertur, also took a firm position against the expanded use of carbon offsets for Scope 3 decarbonisation in a recent letter to the SBTi – which is considering the policy change.

Meanwhile, 32 brands (13% of the total) scored a 0% in the ranking: these include DKNY, Nine West, Savage X Fenty, QuickSilver, Billabong and Forever21.

Fashion brands lagging on the energy transition

The fashion sector also needs to accelerate efforts for the energy transition, according to the report: 86% of companies do not have a coal phase-out target and 94% have not set a renewable energy target.

Beyond energy goals, brands also lack transparency, with less than half (43%) reporting a breakdown of energy procurement for their own operations, and just 10% for electricity use in their supply chains.

Moreover, none of the top fashion companies disclose hourly matched supply chain electricity use – the gold standard of Scope 2 transparency.

Lack of transparency around overproduction

While overproduction is one of the top sustainability issues in the sector, causing an estimated 92 million tonnes of fashion waste every year, most brands (89%) have yet to disclose the number of garments they make annually.

Nearly half (45%) also fail to report on the emissions caused by materials used in production, and while many are investing in ‘sustainable materials’ made from recycled or biobased sources, not disclosing the energy sources used to produce them defeats the purpose, argues Fashion Revolution.

In addition, another recent report showed that progress has been slow in this area, with just 13% of materials used for garments coming from recycled sources.