Friday 30 October 2020

Primark commits to 30% emissions reduction by 2030

Fashion retailer Primark has announced a commitment to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 2030.

The company's announcement came after joining the United Nations' Fashion Charter for Climate Action, an initiative for fashion businesses to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

The programme for the fashion industry also covers emissions from across business' entire value chain, including Scope 3 emissions.

The firm pledged to set a decarbonisation pathway with support from the Science-Based Targets Initiative and focus on manufacturing, distribution and store operations.

Primark has also committed to training 160,000 farmers by 2022 and increasing the number of sustainable cotton products to 60 million items.

The company's sustainability plan also includes the operation of an in-store recycling scheme, the monitoring of energy usage and carbon emissions in Primark's factories and the development of a packaging optimisation programme to accurately measure products and package them into cartons, eliminating waste.

Katharine Stewart, Ethical Trade and Environmental Sustainability Director at Primark said: “We are delighted to be joining the UNFCCC and are committing to cutting our emissions across our value chain. As a global fashion retailer, we are passionate about finding solutions to the challenges of climate change and recognise that there is always more to do.

"While we have big ambitions to make our business more sustainable, we also know that even our small changes can make a big difference, simply because of our size. And we want to do all this without passing the cost on to our customers, as we believe that sustainable fashion shouldn’t come with a big price tag.”