Fashion industry responsible for 8.3 million tonnes of methane every year

Collective Fashion Justice (CFJ), the charity dedicated to a total ethics fashion system that protects people, animals, and the planet, has released the first-ever calculation of the fashion industry’s methane footprint and claims the global fashion industry is responsible for emitting an estimated 8.3 million tonnes of methane every year.

The white paper produced and reviewed by researchers at New York and Cornell Universities combines comprehensive data from a systematic literature review and a Life Cycle Inventory, claims that fashion’s methane footprint is nearly four times that of France, which is currently 2.1 million tonnes.

The report adds that 75 percent of fashion’s annual methane footprint is tied to the production and use of animal-derived leather, wool and cashmere, even though they make up just 3.8 percent of materials used in the fashion industry, which points to an urgent need for a transition “to more responsible animal-free and fossil fuel-free materials”.

Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero in England, emphasised the urgency of methane action, stating that “if CO₂ cuts are the marathon, methane is the sprint,” when recently launching the UK’s Methane Action Plan.

The CFJ adds that slashing methane emissions is the fastest way fashion brands can help to reduce global temperatures; however, before this report, there has been no publicly available, credible estimate of fashion’s methane footprint.

Emma Hakansson, founding director of CFJ, said in a statement: “The fashion industry is on a fast track to failing the 1.5°C climate target of the Paris Agreement. There is no time to tinker around the edges of this existential crisis. A focus on major methane reduction is essential to reducing global temperatures quickly, but fashion cannot fix what it does not understand.

“That’s why our methane footprint for the industry is a watershed moment. With this data now available the fashion industry can better understand its impact on our climate and must use this to take targeted and science-based action to reduce methane: the data shows that it must include divestment from virgin animal-derived materials like leather and wool.”

For fashion to have a future, cutting methane emissions should be a priority, claims Collective Fashion Justice

There is global agreement that tackling methane emissions is both important and urgent, with the United Nations, peak bodies and 150 countries endorsing a Global Methane Pledge committed to 30 percent methane mitigation by 2030, from a 2020 baseline.

Methane is responsible for supercharging the climate crisis as, in the short term, it is 86 times more potent than carbon. Methane lasts far fewer years in the atmosphere than carbon, meaning reducing methane now will reduce global temperatures far sooner.

Hakansson added: “After the sourcing of ruminant animal-derived materials, the second largest source of methane emissions in the fashion industry is associated with the use of non-renewable energy, particularly gas and coal, which continues to power material processing and fabrication facilities. A transition to renewable energy across the fashion supply chain is also essential.

“There is no doubt that if the fashion industry is to have a future, it must cut methane emissions by 30 percent by 2030, from a 2020 baseline. This is an opportunity for our industry. Our findings prove it is entirely possible to meaningfully reduce global temperatures quickly, by focusing on just transitions from conventional, animal-derived materials to innovative, animal-free and fossil fuel-free next-gen and recycled materials.

“Our planet and shared future relies on brands investing in and creatively using better, lower-emissions materials that shift us beyond the most methane-intensive materials, like those sourced from the bodies of ruminant animals.”