Citing droughts, temperature shifts and other impacts that will make apparel production “more difficult and costly,” the CEOs of seven top global apparel companies have issued a statement calling for a strong climate change agreement at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 21) in Paris that will stop the growth of greenhouse gas pollution that is causing global warming.
In a signed declaration submitted by Boston-based advocacy group Ceres to the leaders of 190 nations at COP 21, the companies acknowledge that climate-change mitigation and innovation are essential not only to the health and wellbeing of the people who make their products, but also to the future supply of materials required to create the said products. The negotiations which began on December one will culminate with a possible international agreement on December 11.
Adidas, Eileen Fisher, Gap, H&M, Levi Strauss, and VF Corp. are among the multinational apparel brands calling for a robust global deal that will stem the rise of climate-altering greenhouse-gas emissions.
More than altruism, the appeal is a matter of self-preservation, as well. “From the farmers in cotton fields to the workers in garment factories, we know that people in some of the least climate-resilient regions are being negatively impacted by a warming world drought, changing temperatures, and extreme weather will make the production of apparel more difficult and costly,” the statement said.
