Attempts to address the climate impact of fashion involves a complex web of participating countries, industries and actors. Connecting the diverse stakeholders in the fashion industry, including brands, raw material producers, textile producers and apparel manufacturers, as well as scaling of existing initiatives that connect the value chain can lead to significant reductions in emissions and might help the broader textile, clothing and fashion industry move faster toward a holistic climate agenda.

Alignment and scaling of climate efforts under UN Climate Change provides wide-reaching benefits in the response to climate change. The UN Climate Change Fashion Dialogue held on 16-17 January 2018 in Bonn, Germany, represented a start of a partnership with fashion stakeholders as they joined the UN Climate Change invitation to establish a collaborative, holistic approach through inclusive partnerships built on principles, values and shared goals, aligned with the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Fashion Industry Representatives at the January 2018 meeting in Bonn

The working meeting on fashion and climate action, hosted by UN Climate Change in Bonn, Germany, on 24-25 September 2018, brought together fashion industry stakeholders to discuss and finalize recommendations put together through a multi-stakeholder iterative process during 2018, which are inscribed in an industry charter for climate action.

Fashion Industry Representatives at the September 2018 meeting in Bonn

Meetings among fashion industry representatives convened by UN Climate Change have revealed a consensus that a concerted effort from across the sector could lead to significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and could put the fashion industry on track to implement the goals of Paris Agreement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.