Fashion Industry Emissions Rise Nearly 14% in Two Years as Polyester Use Expands

The global fashion industry is moving further away from its climate targets as rising production volumes and continued dependence on fossil fuel-based materials push greenhouse gas emissions higher.

Emissions from the apparel sector increased 6.3% in 2024 after rising 7.5% in 2023, according to the Apparel Impact Institute's latest Taking Stock of Progress Against the Roadmap to Net Zero report. Together, the two annual increases amount to a rise of almost 14% over two years.

Total emissions in 2024 exceeded roughly 1 gigaton of carbon dioxide equivalent, putting the sector's annual climate footprint at a scale comparable to the total emissions of a major industrialized economy such as Japan. The increase follows a slight decline in 2022 and suggests that recent improvements in energy efficiency and cleaner manufacturing have not been sufficient to compensate for growing production.

The findings are significant because the apparel industry is supposed to be moving in the opposite direction. The Apparel Impact Institute and the World Resources Institute's sector roadmap call for emissions to fall by at least 45% from 2019 levels by 2030, followed by net-zero emissions by 2050.

More Fiber Production is Driving Emissions Upward

One of the central factors behind the increase is the continued expansion of global fiber production.

The Apparel Impact Institute identified growing fiber use, particularly petroleum-derived polyester, as the main contributor to the latest increase. Polyester has become the dominant textile fiber because of its relatively low cost, durability, versatility, and availability at scale.

Global fiber production reached approximately 132 million metric tons in 2024, according to figures cited by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. Around 60% of global fibers are now made from polyester, reinforcing the fashion industry's exposure to fossil fuel markets and associated emissions.

Virgin polyester also remains cheaper and easier to source than many recycled alternatives. Kurt Kipka, chief impact officer at the Apparel Impact Institute, identified this cost differential as a major obstacle to faster decarbonization.

The challenge highlights the difference between reducing the carbon intensity of an individual garment and achieving absolute emissions reductions across an industry.

Manufacturers may become more energy efficient, purchase renewable electricity, or reduce the emissions associated with each unit of production. However, total emissions can still increase when the overall amount of clothing and textile fiber being produced grows more quickly than those efficiency gains.

Supply Chain Energy Remains a Major Opportunity

Despite the increase in total emissions, the Apparel Impact Institute identified evidence that operational decarbonization measures can produce measurable reductions.

The industry's largest opportunities are concentrated within manufacturing supply chains, where processes such as spinning, weaving, dyeing, finishing, and thermal treatment require substantial amounts of electricity and heat.

Several companies cited in the report have increased renewable energy use.

PUMA reported that approximately 33% of energy used by its core factories came from renewable sources in 2025, exceeding its 25% target for the year. Shenzhou International Group Holdings, a major apparel manufacturer supplying global brands, reported that renewable electricity represented more than 60% of its electricity consumption in 2024. Ten of its factories were operating with 100% renewable electricity.

Shenzhou also reported a 16.8% reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions between 2020 and 2024.

H&M Group, meanwhile, reduced the number of Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 supplier factories using on-site coal boilers from 118 in 2022 to 10 in 2025.

These examples show that technologies and interventions capable of reducing manufacturing emissions already exist. The broader challenge is deploying them across thousands of facilities and multiple tiers of highly fragmented global supply chains.

Financing Suppliers is Becoming Critical

One of the structural problems facing fashion decarbonization is that brands often establish climate targets while much of the investment required to achieve them must be made by suppliers.

Manufacturing companies may need to finance renewable power installations, replace fossil fuel boilers, electrify heating systems, upgrade machinery, improve insulation or install energy storage. Suppliers operating on relatively thin margins can struggle to fund these projects independently.

The Apparel Impact Institute therefore argues that brands, banks, policymakers and implementation partners will need to share more of the financial burden.

Its recommendations include improving suppliers' access to climate finance, providing longer-term purchasing commitments and aligning commercial relationships with emissions reduction objectives.

The financing issue is particularly important because supply chain emissions dominate the overall footprint of many fashion businesses. UN Climate Change estimates that approximately 80% of the industry's greenhouse gas emissions occur within supply chains rather than companies' direct operations.

Climate Commitments are Expanding, but Implementation Remains Uneven

The number of apparel companies participating in formal climate target frameworks has increased substantially.

More than 700 companies across the sector had either approved science-based climate targets or committed to establishing them by June 2026, compared with approximately 100 at the end of 2021.

However, corporate targets alone are unlikely to reverse the industry's emissions trajectory.

The Apparel Impact Institute is calling for companies to translate commitments into facility-level projects, particularly in Tier 2 manufacturing, where energy-intensive textile processing frequently occurs.

Recommended measures include renewable electricity, energy efficiency improvements and the electrification of industrial heating and other thermal processes.

The organization also argues that the sector must address the underlying growth in material consumption. Circular business models, recycled fibers and lower-carbon materials will need to develop alongside manufacturing decarbonization if the industry is to achieve absolute rather than simply intensity-based emissions reductions.

For brands and retailers, the findings reinforce the importance of examining purchasing volumes, material selection and supplier energy systems together rather than treating them as separate sustainability issues.

For manufacturers, access to affordable renewable electricity, clean industrial heat and financing will increasingly determine their ability to meet customer climate requirements.

The latest emissions increase shows that progress at individual factories and brands is possible, but it is currently being overwhelmed by continued growth in overall production. Unless the industry can combine cleaner manufacturing with lower-carbon materials and tighter control over production growth, its 2030 climate target will become increasingly difficult to reach.

Source: www.bloomberg.com