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United Nations Environment Programme
  • About the project
  • Key concepts
  • Resources
  • Partners in Africa
  • Sucess Stories, Events and Media coverage
  • Contacts

 

Background 

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) is implementing a three-year project funded by the European Union (EU): Innovative Business Practices and Economic Models in the Textile Value Chain (InTex). The project has five components. Two components have global reach and three components will focus on national implementation in three countries in Africa where textiles is a key economic sector and where companies, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), are part of multinational value chains (for example exporting towards the European market). Technical intermediaries from three countries (Kenya, South Africa, and Tunisia) are UNEP’s partners implementing the three components that have national focus.

Graph-InTex

Key objectives

The InTex project aims to

  • Increase among SMEs and governments the knowledge on resource efficiency, life cycle thinking, circularity and eco-innovation in the textile value chain
  • Train textiles stakeholders on eco-innovation and product environmental footprint (PEF)
  • Accompany textiles businesses to transform their approach and business models in order to increase sustainability and circularity in the textile value chain. 15 companies are assisted to conduct a hotspots analysis and amongst them, 9 are assisted to develop action plans, mapping the actions to prioritize to reduce their environmental footprint based on PEF analysis and further companies also implementing the eco-innovation methodology. 
  • Increase the access to environmental and lifecycle data so that textiles businesses and policymakers can make better informed decisions and implement relevant strategies
  • Provide evidence of the environmental and socio-economic impacts of the different sustainable economic models in the textiles value chain, to help bridge the science-policy gap and raise awareness on the potential impacts of adopting and fostering innovative sustainable and circular policies and practices

Duration

From September 2020 to January 2024.

Next steps

The four technical intermediaries (Moi University in Kenya, the Centre for African Resource Efficiency and Sustainability in South Africa, the National Cleaner Production Centre of South Africa and the International Centre for Environmental Technologies of Tunis,) are working with UNEP to implement the project activities.

Learn more

To find more information about the project, please read the brochure here. 

UNEP

 

UNEP logo

 

 

 

Eco-Innovation

The UNEP Eco-innovation approach aims at the development and application of a business model, shaped by a new business strategy, which incorporates sustainability throughout all business operations based on life cycle thinking and in cooperation with partners across the value chain. It entails a coordinated set of modifications or novel solutions to products (goods/services), processes, market approach and organizational structure which leads to a company’s enhanced performance and competitiveness.

Borchure

You can also find more information on how eco-innovation can make SMEs more sustainable on the document available at this page. 

EU

The European Commission’s Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) is an assessment method used to measure the environmental performance of a good or service throughout its life cycle (from extraction of raw materials, through production and use, to final waste management). Being a standardized methodology, PEF allows for robust product comparisons. SMEs can use PEF to compare their product’s environmental footprint to similar products or to the European benchmark and gain competitive advantage and credibility. SMEs can use PEF also to inform consumers and customers about the environmental performance of their products.

 

Circularity provides a model to transform the current economic model towards a sustainable future. As outlined in the UNEP circularity platform, circularity’s underlying objective is that materials should be kept at their highest possible value as they move and are retained within the value chain. This reduces the use of natural resources and environmental impacts per unit of economic activity or output, while continuing to enable improvements in human well-being. Circularity is built on the overall guiding principle of ‘’Reduce by design’’, and value retention loops, as shown in the UNEP circularity approach below:

Circularity

 

Eco-Innovation Manual Textiles Supplement 

This supplement provides textile sector-specific guidance for service providers helping apparel companies implement eco-innovation, using UNEP's Eco-innovation Manual. While targeting service providers, apparel company representatives may also find it useful. The focus is on business-to-consumer (B2C) aspects of the apparel industry, excluding industrial, technical, and household textiles. The content is tailored for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), especially in developing countries.

 

PEF 101 factsheet

To learn more about the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) methodology and how to apply it as a business, check out this factsheet. You will get an overview of the PEF method and its key benefits.

 

PEF graphic

How to conduct a PEF study - Manual

This manual will help technical experts conduct a Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) study for apparel and footwear products. It clarifies the steps to follow, the technical modelling rules and helps draft the final PEF report. The manual helps navigate the Apparel and Footwear PEF Category Rules (PEFCR) and it must be read in conjunction with the PEFCR and the PEF method. You can download the Annex here. 

 

UNEP

 

Kenya

The textile sector is one of the major manufacturing activities in Kenya. The sector contributes to about 14% of employment in Kenya owing to its capacity to create both direct and indirect employment opportunities. The sector employs over 2.5 million people, of which 84% are employed in Micro SMEs while 8% are employed indirectly in cross-cutting support services such as in financial institutions, research institutes and government ministries. The total turnover of the sector is about US$ 564 million. The contribution of the textile manufacturing sector to Kenya’s GDP is expected to continue growing from 10% in 2019 to 15% by 2022.

Logo MOI

  • Moi University is a public university located in Kesses, Uasin Gishu county, in the former Rift Valley Province of Kenya. It was established in 1984 by the Moi University Act of the Parliament of Kenya. The University was created with an intention of making it a science, technology and development oriented institution. Moi University collaborates with local and international partners to ensure it meets its goals of providing academic, research and societal solutions in medicine, agriculture and engineering. Some of the sustainable projects carried out by Moi University include the training of handloom weavers (in Kenya and Uganda) in the use of natural dyes for textiles, and the study of textile effluent treatment from textile dyeing factories. Moi University owns a vertically integrated factory (Rivatex East Africa Ltd), which manufactures cotton and polyester blended fabrics and garments.

 

South Africa

The South African clothing and textiles industry is considered a strategic industry and forms part of the government’s Industrial Policy Action Plans (IPAP) sectors. The industry contributes to 2,5% of South Africa’s  total manufacturing output. Considering both the manufacturing and retail subsectors, there are about 212,000 formal jobs in the whole textiles value chain in South Africa , with 92,000 jobs in manufacturing and 120,000 jobs in retail.

CARES logo

  • The mission of the Centre for African Resource Efficiency and Sustainability (CARES) is to change the exclusive landscape of sustainability into one that empowers and educates all. The organisation utilises its expertise to create customised strategies and solutions to promote and improve sustainability within local SMMEs. CARES shifts the dialogue of sustainability through training and up- skilling people in the industry, with a focus on women.  The organisation creates a community of education and learning, one that shares the value of sustainability and the circular economy by giving back.

SA

  • The National Cleaner Production Centre of South Africa (NCPC-SA) is a national programme of government that promotes the implementation of resource efficiency and cleaner production (RECP) methodologies to assist industry to lower costs through reduced energy, water and materials usage, and waste management.

 

 Tunisia

Textile and clothing industry sector is positioned as a cornerstone of the Tunisian industry and keeps a prominent place in the national economy while maintaining a strong contribution to the socio-economic balance of Tunisia. It is an important sector of the manufacturing industry in terms of : exports (second industrial sector which represents 16%  from  the total industrial export in 2022), employment (first industrial sector with 29.2% from the total employment in 2022). The Textile and clothing sector is comprised from 1,415 companies employing 10 or more people and provides the largest number of jobs in the manufacturing sector, employing more than 150,000 people. Among the 1,415 units in the sector, 80% of them produce exclusively for the export market.for representing  54% of all exporting companies established in Tunisia. About 40% of the companies are in partnership, of which 369 units are 100% foreign-owned. Exports of the sector increased to attain 2,8 milliards Euro in 2022.

CITET

  • The International Centre for Environmental Technologies of Tunis (CITET) is a non-administrative public institution (EPNA), under the supervision of the Ministry of Environment. It’s specialized in the protection of the environment in the context of sustainable development. CITET was founded in 1996, in response to the international recommendations of the RIO Summit (1992) for capacity building in developing countries and support for the transfer of environmentally-sound technologies. CITET is committed to developing Tunisian skills to ensure an environmentally sound technology transfer and well adapted to the local, national and international context.

 

Success stories

  • South African Textile Sector: Transitioning to circularity through national, regional and international collaborations. Read it here. 
  • Spun from banana fibres:  Reflections from the InTex project applied to South-South and intra-UN projects collaboration. Read it here. 
  • Transforming the Textile Sector in Tunisia: Insights from CITET on the InTex Project. Read it here.

Launch event, InTex - 15 June 2021

The United Nations Environment Programme has organised the launch event of the InTex project on 15 June 2021 at 11:00 a.m. CEST.

More information about the full agenda can be found here and the recording below.

 

Inger Andersen visit to South Africa, 9 June 2023

Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme visited Green Thread Manufacturing and K-WAY, two of the 15 SMEs participating in UNEP’s InTex project and are part of the South Africa textiles brand Cape Union Mart.

 

Media coverage

Innovative and Circular Textile SMEs: the InTex project in Tunisia, South Africa and Kenya.

In the context of the World Environment Day 2023, Capacity4dev interviewed the team behind the EU-funded InTex project implemented by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The article is available in English,  French and Spanish. A video summarising the key highlights is also available below: 

 

To learn more about the project, please contact:

Fresh Water
Did you know?
Freshwater makes up only 2 per cent of all water.

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