Fashion's Emissions Climb 14% in Two Years, Report Says

The Los Angeles Times reports fashion emissions rose 6.3% in 2024 after a 7.5% jump in 2023, hitting roughly one gigaton as polyester production surges.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the fashion industry's greenhouse gas emissions climbed in 2023 and 2024, rising 7.5% in 2023 and another 6.3% in 2024 — a combined increase of roughly 14% over two years. The paper, citing a new report from the nonprofit Apparel Impact Institute, notes that the year before 2023, sector emissions had actually declined slightly, making the recent climb a reversal of a fragile downward trend. According to the report, 2024 is the most recent year for which the institute has data, and fashion's emissions that year stood at roughly 1 gigaton.

What makes the numbers striking, per the Los Angeles Times, is that the industry had appeared to be bending its curve downward just three years earlier, only to swing sharply upward. The paper reports that 2024's roughly 1-gigaton footprint is about the same as the entire climate footprint of Japan — a comparison that frames apparel as an emitter on the scale of a major industrialized nation. Kurt Kipka, the institute's chief impact officer, told the paper the trend is 'quite concerning' and called it 'a clear sign of increased usage of materials,' meaning the sector is simply making and using more fiber than before.

The Los Angeles Times attributes the emissions growth in part to increased global production of fiber, especially polyester. Kipka highlighted cost as a significant hurdle for decarbonization: virgin polyester continues to be cheaper and more available than recycled material, he said, and recycled material takes energy to make. The timing compounds the problem — the paper notes that volatility from the Iran war is driving up energy prices, which Kipka said shows the need for clothing producers to look to alternatives to oil and gas. Separately, Yahoo reports critics warning of 'fashion slop,' as brands lean on AI and algorithms to churn out more clothes faster as social media accelerates trends.

The stakes extend beyond carbon accounting. The Los Angeles Times reports that the institute found in separate research the sector faces a 34% drop in profits by 2030, with supply-chain disruptions and higher operating expenses, unless companies act quickly to rein in their carbon pollution. The paper also documents retrenchment on commitments: it reports that businesses in the sector have walked back green pledges amid political changes and inflation pressures, and that earlier this year Burberry delayed for a decade its previous goal to reach net zero by 2040. Rising energy costs tied to the Iran war add further pressure on producers still dependent on oil and gas.

It is not all bad news, the Los Angeles Times emphasizes. The number of apparel companies with approved science-based climate targets — or committed to setting them — rose from about 100 at the end of 2021 to more than 700 as of this June, according to the report. The paper adds that major brands have reported double-digit reductions in their emissions and have ramped up the share of recycled fiber they use in garments.

On solutions, Kipka pointed to renewable energy sources and onsite battery storage as increasingly attractive propositions for producers, per the Los Angeles Times. In a parallel shift, the New York Post reports a small but growing group of designers — including Christian Siriano, who says he has made his clothes in Manhattan for nearly 20 years — manufacturing locally even as 99% of the city's 900-plus fashion brands make clothes overseas, according to Sourcing Journal as cited by the Post. The Post also reports the CFDA and Ralph Lauren launched a U.S. Fashion Manufacturing Fund in January to bankroll American-made collections, one response to the material-hungry global system the emissions data describe.