Splitting the bill: How Asia can finance apparel’s decarbonisation

GREENHOUSE-GAS emissions from the apparel sector rose nearly 8 per cent in 2023, according to the Apparel Impact Institute’s annual Roadmap to Net Zero report. The first increase since the institute began tracking emissions, the apparel industry now accounts for roughly 2 per cent of global greenhouse-gas emissions – nearly as much as the entire aviation sector.

The industry’s increasing carbon footprint underscores how current financing and policy efforts have fallen short in driving decarbonisation for the apparel sector.

Today, most of the industry’s emissions lay with suppliers, often in hubs such as Bangladesh, Vietnam and India. But for many of these suppliers, the capital needed for clean energy and efficiency upgrades is inaccessible and unaffordable. Fixing this mismatch between responsibility, risk and resources is both the sector’s climate solution and Asia’s opportunity.