Apparel & Footwear Working Group
As the apparel and footwear industry approaches £2 trillion in value, its environmental continues to grow, with up to 8% of global emissions attributed to the sector.
The Apparel and Footwear Working Group is leading efforts to address the decarbonization challenges it is facing by creating harmonized guidance and solutions for Scope 3 emissions accounting, focusing on raw materials and production.
Why Join?
The new working group will co-develop practical guidance for Scope 3 emissions accounting, tackling key challenges in the sector. This year, participants will explore SBTi’s Net-Zero framework and Environmental Attribute Certificates, develop solutions for traceability in natural fibers and blends, and evaluate market-based and co-investment mechanisms.
By joining, you will collaborate with industry peers to develop actionable guidance, strengthen your decarbonization strategy, and maximize the impact of your value chain interventions. You will also gain the knowledge to credibly measure and report progress, ensuring alignment with evolving standards while helping to shape the future of industry policy.
Key Challenges
The apparel and footwear industry contributes 3-8% of global carbon emissions, with raw materials as a major source. Climate risks like flooding and heatwaves threaten both production and profitability, while emissions could reach 1.266 Gt by 2030—far exceeding the 1.5°C climate target, which requires a 45% reduction.
Many companies are committing to Net-Zero, but evolving standards—such as the GHG Protocol’s Land Sector and Removals Guidance (LSRG) and the SBTi Corporate Net-Zero Standard—are creating uncertainty, making emissions accounting and investment decisions more complex.
Objective and Outcome
The Apparel and Footwear Working Group IV will evaluate Scope 3 standards and frameworks, co-developing solutions and incentives to support effective action. The group will also extend VCI’s guidance to address Scope 3 accounting complexities within apparel and footwear value chains.
The final deliverable will be the Apparel and Footwear Value Chain Intervention Guidance addendum, providing harmonized frameworks for Scope 3 reporting and interventions.
Timeline
The Apparel and Footwear Working Group IV will run from April to July 2025, structured into four interactive sessions:
Accounting Market-Based Mechanisms
How can companies leverage MBM instruments (e.g., credits, commodity certificates, energy certificates)? What accounting approaches apply in the MBM space, and what are their implications?
Traceability
How can physical traceability be operationalized for impacted raw materials and products?
Neutralization
What factors (e.g., timelines, permanence, intervention type, quality of removals) to consider when designing a credible Net Zero strategy?
Claims & Reporting
How to claim and report my interventions considering existing and emerging GHG standards and frameworks?
Related Articles
Get in Touch With Our Team
Do you want to know more about our work? Contact us and we’ll get back to you shortly.
Contact UsParticipate
Join
Signup for news
Contact us