From Breakingviews: Retailers like H&M are promising to slash their carbon footprint by using more recycled products. That’s good, but real change would come from tackling the throwaway culture that they represent, says aimeedonnellan
LONDON - Rag traders are talking a good game on climate change. Last week, H&M promoted its former head of sustainability to the top job. Helena Helmersson wants the $31 billion Swedish fashion giant to only use 100% recycled material and “sustainable” cotton – meaning fibre that is either organic, recycled or grown in a way that minimises pesticides and water. Such solutions seem ambitious – but could actually exacerbate other types of pollution.
H&M’s pledges should help, but the sector’s real problem is waste. More than half of fast fashion produced is disposed of within a year, according to McKinsey & Company. Despite chains like John Lewis and Inditex-owned Zara launching recycling programmes for unwanted clothes, some 73% of garments still end up burned in incinerators, or in landfill. The latter produces methane, a greenhouse gas that therefore contributes to global warming.
Partly because they can point to a fuzzy circular economy future, few retailers are doing much to help. Spanish clothing giant Inditex, the UK’s Topshop and bargain clothing store Primark – owned by Associated British Foods – have failed to commit to so-called science-based targets, where objectives like meaningful emissions reduction are signed off following credible tyre-kicking. H&M has done so, but its sustainably sourced materials and 2030 recycling pledge raise further questions.
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