The Sustainable Apparel Coalition launched a decarbonization guide for its members

The Sustainable Clothing Alliance (SAC), as the global convener driven by the influence of about half of the clothing and footwear industry, recently released its member decarbonization guide. This guide is part of the SAC decarbonization plan launched last year, aiming to promote the adoption of science-based goals (SBTs) and reduce emissions in the textile and clothing industry. The Guide provides a six-step process through which organizations can commit to and set strategic goals and develop action plans to achieve their goals.

01 Understand and gain internal recognition

The textile and clothing industry's annual greenhouse gas emissions account for 2% to 8% of the global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Therefore, efforts must be intensified to promote the collective action of the entire industry to achieve the 45% reduction target required to limit global warming to 1.5 ° C by 2030. The organization will need to obtain internal recognition to commit and set SBTs, and submit its target for verification. SAC believes that the establishment of SBTs is an important step for enterprises to set short-term emission reduction targets based on the latest climate science.

What are SBTs?

The science-based indicators developed by the Science-based Target Initiative (SBTi) provide companies and financial institutions with a clearly defined way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, help prevent the worst impacts of climate change and withstand the future test of business growth. If the objectives are consistent with what the latest climate science believes is necessary to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement, that is, to limit global warming to a range of 2 ° C far below the pre-industrial level, and to strive to limit warming to below 1.5 ° C, these objectives are considered "based on science".

02 Commitment

Making commitment is the first step to set up SBTs. Your commitment route depends on your organization type and size. Submit a commitment letter to SAC or SBTi, indicating that your organization intends to set goals and take ambitious climate action to reduce emissions.

03 Development

Set short-term SBTs and/or net zero targets. There should be at least five years and a maximum o ten years between the date the target is submitted to SBTi for verification and the final target.

04 Submit and verify

After you finish setting the organization's emission reduction targets, you can fill in the target submission form and submit the targets to SBTi according to the latest suggestions. SAC members can discuss verification activities with the verification agency after developing SBTs.

SBTi recommends that organizations report through CDP. You can also report through the Higg Brand and Retail Module (BRM) and share your sustainable development progress with value chain partners.

05 Communication and disclosure

Once you approve SBTs, you will be required to publicly report and disclose your objectives. SBTi provides a welcome package and communication guide for companies to communicate their new goals in the company's website or sustainable development report. After you notify SAC that your objectives have been approved, SAC will also disclose and publish your SBTs on its website.

06 Develop an action plan and take collective action

In order to develop this overall climate action plan, the company needs to assess the carbon hotspots on the value chain of direct and indirect emission sources, and collect theideas of existing and potential initiatives of each business function department to achieve carbon emission reduction.

Using Higg FEM data for hot spot analysis, users can access standardized environmentalassessment to promote dialogue among value chain partners, thus improving each layer of the global value chain. In other fields, Higg FEM can realize the annual energy and carbon emission tracking and reporting, benchmarking and sharing with value chain partners.

Amina Razvi, CEO of Sustainable Apparel Coalition, said: "At present, the textile and clothing industry has not entered the track of achieving net zero by 2050. We need to makean urgent transition and strengthen the cooperation of the whole industry to cope with the worst impact of climate change The release of is an important step in our efforts to create a consistent path for the industry to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We believe that through continuous cooperation and partnership with organizations such as the "Science-based Goals" initiative, we can support our members to commit to and develop science-based indicators and work together to achieve emission reduction goals. "

For more guide details, see the link:

https://sacoalition.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/sac-decarbonization-guide-members.pdf