The global apparel and fashion sector is moving in the wrong direction when it comes to climate action. Greenhouse gas emissions across the industry climbed 6.3% in 2024 compared to the previous year, according to the Apparel Impact Institute’s latest assessment — and this despite a growing number of companies channelling investment into renewable energy, cleaner materials and coal phase-outs.
The rise in fashion industry emissions was driven largely by higher fibre consumption, with polyester at the centre of the problem. This trajectory puts the European Union’s fashion sector further from its stated goal of cutting emissions by 45% by 2030, measured against 2019 levels — a target that now looks increasingly difficult to reach.
A Challenge Rooted in Global Supply Chains
The complexity of the EU’s position on fashion sustainability stems from where the emissions actually occur. According to the European Environment Agency, roughly 80% to 90% of the EU’s fashion footprint lies outside of Europe. The EU’s sustainability legislation has been specifically designed to penalise this “outsourced” pollution through targeted mechanisms applied to what enters its single market.
At the same time, the end-of-life problem remains firmly within European borders. The EU generates approximately 12.6 million tonnes of textile waste every year — a figure that underscores both the scale of consumption and the urgency of the circular economy agenda that Brussels has been actively pursuing in the textile sector.
China is the largest textile exporter to the EU, accounting for over €26.5 billion in apparel and representing roughly one-third of all textile and clothing products sold across Europe, according to the World Integrated Trade Solution. Bangladesh ranks second among exporters, followed by Turkey, India, Pakistan, Vietnam and Morocco.
The Emissions Picture: Where the Problem Lies
The Apparel Impact Institute’s report breaks down the sources of fashion industry emissions with some clarity. Textile processing — covering the treatment, dyeing and finishing of fabrics — accounts for approximately 51% of total apparel emissions. Raw-material production contributes a further 26%. This places the majority of the industry’s climate burden squarely on factories, most of which are located outside the EU.
While the EU can regulate what is sold on its single market, the emissions tied to European consumers’ clothing choices are largely generated within global supply chains. This creates a fundamental tension between EU industrial policy and its climate ambitions.
The report is direct on the dual challenge facing the sector: “Decarbonising apparel requires action on both sides of the equation: reducing the carbon intensity of material production and manufacturing, while also addressing the growth in material volumes that can outpace those gains.”
EU Policy Framework and Its Limits
In an effort to reverse the growth in textile waste, Brussels has introduced a package of measures aimed at reshaping how clothes are designed, sold and eventually discarded. The EU has also moved to hold fashion companies financially responsible for the waste they produce — a key pillar of its circular economy strategy applied to the textile sector.
However, the continued rise in greenhouse gas emissions suggests that waste policy alone is insufficient to address the sector’s climate footprint. Even if the EU’s rules successfully reduce textile waste within its borders, clothing production on a global scale appears set to continue rising, according to the report’s findings.
European policymakers are now caught between the need to decarbonise supply chains and the pressure from industry stakeholders concerned about regulatory burden, operating costs and global competitiveness.
Financial Barriers and the Case for Brand-Supplier Partnerships
From the industry’s side, the challenges are equally structural. Manufacturers frequently lack the financing required to invest in energy efficiency improvements or renewable power infrastructure. In many key production countries, clean electricity and coal alternatives remain either unavailable or prohibitively expensive. Sustainable materials, in a number of cases, also carry a higher price tag than conventional options.
The Apparel Impact Institute’s report argues that fashion brands must share the financial and operational burden with their suppliers. This means longer-term purchasing commitments, project financing support and closer commercial partnerships aligned with decarbonisation goals.
As the report states: “This includes improving access to appropriate finance, sharing project costs and risks, providing stable and longer-term purchasing commitments and aligning commercial relationships with decarbonisation objectives.”
The report also calls specifically for climate targets to be translated into concrete factory-level investment, particularly across energy- and heat-intensive areas of textile processing.
Steps Being Taken by Some Players
Some progress is visible. Swedish fashion retailer H&M, for instance, reduced the number of supplier factories operating on-site coal boilers from 118 in 2022 to just 10 by the end of 2025, according to the report.
Industrial electrification is also gaining ground as an alternative approach. Heat pumps are being deployed in textile processes such as laundry, dyeing and drying. Lenzing, a producer of wood-based cellulosic fibres, and power generation company VERBUND have commissioned a 14 MW power-to-heat facility in Austria that uses renewable electricity to supply industrial heat.
The Gap Between Current Trajectory and Climate Targets
Despite these efforts, the scale of the challenge remains stark. Under business-as-usual assumptions, apparel emissions could reach 1.277 gigatonnes by 2030. To remain on a trajectory compatible with the 1.5°C target under the UN Paris Agreement, the sector would need to bring emissions down to 489 million tonnes by the same year — a gap that the current direction of travel does not come close to bridging.
The report also cautions that even widespread factory-level improvements in energy efficiency and a shift to cleaner energy sources will not be sufficient if the industry continues to expand production of carbon-intensive materials. On fashion industry emissions, volume of output matters as much as how that output is produced — and on that front, the data from 2024 offers little encouragement for those watching the EU’s circular economy targets on textiles.
