Fashion Brands Lagging in Fossil Fuel Reduction Efforts

Many of the world’s largest fashion brands disclose nothing about their decarbonisation efforts, with only four out of 250 having ambitious emissions reduction targets aligned with the United Nations’ call. Among 117 brands with decarbonisation targets, 105 disclose progress updates, yet 42 report increased Scope 3 emissions against their baseline year. With the 2030 deadline to limit global warming to 1.5°C approaching, the industry faces a critical challenge.

Additionally, 86% of companies lack a public coal phase-out target, 94% lack a public renewable energy target and 92% lack a public renewable electricity target for their supply chains.

No major fashion brand discloses hourly matched supply chain electricity use, potentially creating a false sense of progress against climate targets.

A significant portion of brands (89%) do not disclose how many clothes they produce annually. Nearly half (45%) fail to disclose their production volumes or the raw material emissions footprint.

While 58% of brands reveal sustainable material targets, only 11% disclose their supply chain’s energy sources, meaning that ‘sustainable’ clothes might still be manufactured in fossil fuel-powered factories.

The overall average brand score is 18%, with the highest-scoring brands in 2024 being Puma (75%), Gucci (74%), H&M (61%), Champion (58%), Hanes (58%), Calzedonia (52%), Intimissimi (52%), Tezenis (52%), Decathlon (51%), ASICS (50%), lululemon (50%), Hermès (49%) and Adidas (49%).

“Much more needs to be done”

Anne-Laure Descours, Chief Sourcing Officer at PUMA, believes the report should work as a wider wake up call to the industry: “While we feel honoured that Fashion Revolution has ranked us as the best performer among the companies it examined, we know there is still a lot of work to do in our decarbonisation journey.