Accelerating to a just transition towards a sustainable and circular textile value chain.
The fashion and textile sector isn't just about style; it's the frontline against the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste. It also holds immense cultural and economic importance, providing livelihoods and a sense of identity for millions, while simultaneously posing risks to workers and the environment at every stage of its lifecycle.
The UNEP Textile Initiative provides strategic leadership and encourages sector-wide collaboration to accelerate a just transition towards a sustainable and circular textile value chain.
UNEP’s work includes supporting and informing governments, such as through its Global Textile Policy Dialogue, assisting industry, particularly SMEs in developing countries, in shifting towards circular business models, scaling the use of industry standards for circularity, eliminating hazardous chemicals, while adopting a life cycle approach and addressing overproduction and overconsumption to redefine the fashion industry’s economic model. Underpinning all of this is support for evidence-based decision making through its thought leadership reports.
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Enabling policy
UNEP works to initiate integrated policy changes towards sustainability and circularity.
UNEP supports policymakers in their decision making by mapping policies, developing recommendations, and providing policy blueprints, factsheets and analysis on specific topics such as used textile trade. UNEP also contributes to global policy coordination through its work with policymakers within the Global Textile Policy Dialogue.
Read more: InTex, Circularity and Used Textile Trade
Addressing hazardous chemicals
UNEP works to phase out chemicals of concern that are hazardous to human health and the environment so that the sector at large can contribute to industry targets under the Global Framework on Chemicals.
UNEP supports global and in-country work, including in Cambodia, Indonesia, Trinidad & Tobago, and Viet Nam, to reduce uses and releases of chemicals of concern across the whole supply chain, including Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) by SMEs in the wet processing phase.
Read more: GEF-7 Reducing uses and releases of chemicals of concern in the textiles sector, GEF-8 Integrated Program on eliminating hazardous chemicals from supply chains, Global Framework on Chemicals
Supporting SMEs
UNEP works to shift industry norms and practices towards sustainability.
The transition to circularity will require all stakeholders to work together, and SMEs are crucial to this transition. At the global level, UNEP supports the fashion and textile industry by co-creating knowledge and shifting global discourse with strategic partners, including through providing tools to inform decision making.
UNEP also supports specific SMEs in developing countries including India, Indonesia, Kenya, South Africa, Tunisia and Viet Nam, as well as at the regional level (such as through the West Asia Sustainable Fashion Academy) to apply life cycle approaches (e.g., to calculate the environmental footprint of products), identify and address hazardous chemicals in production, and shift towards circular business models.
Read more: InTex, GEF-7 Reducing uses and releases of chemicals of concern in the textiles sector, WASFA
Addressing used textiles
Used textiles must be diverted from avoidable landfill and incineration, and managed responsibly to ensure textile products remain in a circular system. UNEP works to identify key priorities in trade and policy reforms for increased circularity of used textiles. UNEP is also developing a global guideline to determine the suitability of trade products as ‘used textiles’ and criteria to differentiate between used textiles and textile waste.
Read more: Circularity and Used Textile Trade
