Currently, in the textile and apparel industry, my country is the well-deserved “world factory” and the world’s largest textile and apparel producer and exporter. In the process of being deeply integrated into the global industrial chain, demand from international and domestic markets is forcing companies to explore low-carbon development paths.
Recently, the China National Textile and Apparel Council (hereinafter referred to as the China National Textile and Apparel Council) and the “China Fashion Brand Climate Innovation Carbon Neutral Acceleration Plan” (hereinafter referred to as the 30·60 Carbon Neutral Acceleration Plan) jointly responded to release climate action progress and explore possible Continuous production and consumption models and paths will promote the green transformation of the global fashion industry. The “30·60 Carbon Neutrality Acceleration Plan” is a climate action initiated by the China Textile Federation.
To this end, Hu Kehua, deputy director of the Social Responsibility Office of China Textile Federation and director of sustainable development projects, gave a professional interpretation of what efforts my country’s textile and apparel industry has made in green and low-carbon development, what the effects are, and what problems it faces.
How much carbon does my country’s textile and apparel industry emit?
Some organizations believe that the global textile and apparel industry’s carbon emissions account for 10% of the world’s total carbon emissions, making it the second largest source of pollution after oil.
Hu Kehua disagrees with this. He said: “The annual carbon emissions of my country’s textile and clothing industry are about 230 million tons, and the total carbon emissions in 2020 are about 209 million tons. The industry’s carbon emissions account for about 2% of the country’s carbon emissions, accounting for 2% of the country’s industrial carbon emissions. 2.8% of the volume. Therefore, compared with other industries, the overall carbon emission level of my country’s textile and apparel industry is not high. According to statistics from the International Energy Agency, the global carbon emissions of the textile and leather industry in 2019 were about 299 million tons, accounting for 10% of global emissions. 0.6% of the total.”
So, in the textile and apparel industry chain, which sub-sectors have larger carbon emissions?
Hu Kehua said that the textile and clothing industry mainly includes three sub-sectors: textile industry, chemical fiber manufacturing industry, and clothing and apparel industry. Among them, the carbon emissions of the chemical fiber manufacturing industry and the textile industry account for approximately 23% and 69% respectively of the total carbon emissions of my country’s textile and apparel industry, and the clothing and apparel industry accounts for approximately 8%.
He explained: “The high proportion of emissions from the textile industry is mainly due to the fact that the textile industry is the largest among my country’s textile and apparel industries. Taking 2020 as an example, the main business income of enterprises in the chemical fiber manufacturing industry was 799.1 billion yuan, and the textile industry The main business income of enterprises in the industry is as high as 2,347.3 billion yuan, and the main business income of enterprises in the textile and apparel industry is 1,386.8 billion yuan. The large size causes the corresponding energy consumption of the textile industry to be higher than the other two sub-sectors. Taking 2020 as an example, the total energy consumption of the chemical fiber manufacturing industry was 23.55 million tons of standard coal, the total energy consumption of the textile industry was 69.82 million tons of standard coal, and the total energy consumption of the textile and apparel industry was only 8.54 million tons of standard coal. .”
In addition, the chemical fiber manufacturing industry has a higher proportion of emissions than the clothing and apparel industry. This is mainly due to the higher energy demand in the processing of the chemical fiber manufacturing industry itself. The clothing and apparel industry has a higher level of electrification and a higher proportion of clean energy use, which further increases the emissions. The gap between the emission proportions of the chemical fiber manufacturing industry and the clothing and apparel industry has been determined. Taking 2020 as an example, the energy emission intensity of the chemical fiber manufacturing industry is 2.05 tons of carbon dioxide/ton of standard coal, the energy emission intensity of the textile industry is 2.09 tons of carbon dioxide/ton of standard coal, and the energy emission intensity of the clothing and apparel industry is 1.87 tons of carbon dioxide/ton of standard coal.
The greenhouse gas emission intensity of the industry has been declining year after year. How is this achieved?
Hu Kehua said: “Greenhouse gas emissions in my country’s textile and apparel industry have gradually increased with the rapid development of the industry since 2000, and then entered a stable period. From 2014 to 2020, the average annual growth rate of industry greenhouse gas emissions was less than 0.5%. From emissions In terms of intensity, the industry’s emission intensity has been declining year after year. From 2005 to 2020, the industry’s emission intensity dropped by more than 60% cumulatively, and a total decrease of 16% during the ’13th Five-Year Plan’ period. The carbon emission intensity of the three sub-sectors all showed a downward trend, among which, chemical The cumulative decrease in the fiber manufacturing industry is close to 70%, the cumulative decrease in the emission intensity of the textile industry is 63%, and the cumulative decrease in the emission intensity of the textile and apparel industry is close to 65%.”
How is such a significant carbon reduction effect achieved?
Hu Kehua said: “From the perspective of energy structure, my country’s textile and apparel industry continues to optimize the energy structure and promote the low-carbon transformation of industry energy use. Most of the emissions from my country’s textile and apparel industry come from energy use (mainly electricity and steam). By 2020 , the industry’s “coal-to-gas” and “coal-to-electricity” have made significant progress. The proportion of coal consumption in the industry has dropped significantly from 30% to less than 10%, and the degree of electrification continues to increase. At the same time, my country’s textile and clothing industry has made great progress in energy conservation and emission reduction. Great efforts have been made, and the energy efficiency of industry enterprises has been greatly improved.”
He who walks alone is fast, but he who walks in groups is far. To achieve industry carbon reduction targets��, China Textile Federation has actively integrated industry forces and carried out a lot of innovative work in promoting climate action by industry enterprises and industrial clusters. Launching the 30·60 Carbon Neutrality Acceleration Plan is one of them. This plan supports a group of key enterprises to carry out climate innovation actions and guides key industrial clusters to create pioneering demonstrations. As of September 2023, 21 brand companies, 42 manufacturing companies and 3 key textile clusters have joined this plan to fulfill their climate commitments with practical actions.
In this list of companies and clusters, there are many well-known brands in the industry, such as Ruyi Group, which has a good ranking in the global luxury goods company ranking list.
Hu Kehua introduced: “Ruyi Group and Wuhan Textile University have developed ‘ethanol system salt-free dyeing technology’, which uses low-boiling point, non-toxic and easily recyclable ethanol as the dyeing medium to replace the use of traditional water-soluble dyes. This dyeing method can achieve The rapid dyeing greatly reduces the dyeing time and the dyeing temperature by 10℃-20℃, thereby reducing energy consumption and eliminating the need for inorganic salts. After dyeing, chemical residues in the liquid to be recovered and energy consumption are also reduced due to The use of environmentally friendly reactive dyes has been greatly reduced. Combined with the use of clean production technology in the front and rear processes, the unit CO₂ emissions (kgCO2e/100m) of the entire process of spinning, weaving and dyeing can be reduced by 81%, and the water intake per unit product (t water/100m) , in which the amount of fresh water taken during the printing and dyeing process can be reduced by 54%, and the discharge of pollutants in wastewater (kg COD/100m) is reduced by 96%.”
Another example is the Aimu children’s homewear (dress) that uses Lenzing Group’s Zero Carbon Tencel™ Modal fiber. The use of Zero Carbon Tencel™ Modal fiber can help the entire product reduce carbon by 13.65%.
For another example, Embry’s low-carbon candy pants also used Lenzing Zero Carbon Tencel™ Modal fiber in the raw material acquisition stage. In the auxiliary material preparation stage, they changed Zhanggen’s supplier and replaced the petroleum-based nylon yarn used by Zhanggen with bio-based nylon yarn. wait. The parallel carbon reduction form of “material end + process end” helps this product effectively reduce carbon emissions by 17.38%.
Conduct full life cycle carbon footprint assessment of products and pursue “cradle to grave”
How much greenhouse gas emissions will a T-shirt made of polylactic acid contribute from raw material extraction and processing to final disposal? According to the China Textile and Apparel Industry Life Cycle Assessment (CNTAC-LCA) working group, the carbon footprint of a white printed T-shirt may be 7.85 kgCO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) per piece. The evaluation process covers the complete chain from raw material mining, manufacturing, transportation, distribution, use to final waste disposal. This process can be called “full life cycle assessment”.
Hu Kehua said: “According to statistics from the China Textile and Apparel Industry Life Cycle Assessment (CNTAC-LCA) Working Group, currently, the evaluation boundary of most (96.08%) of my country’s products is ‘Cradle-to-Gate’ , for textiles, it is from raw material processing to finished product’; 1.96% of the product evaluation boundary is ‘Cradle-to-Grave’, that is, from raw material processing to product disposal; 1.96% of the product evaluation boundary is ‘Gate-to-Gate’ means that the accounting boundary does not include the extraction and processing of raw materials and the disposal of final products, but only the intermediate links to the intermediate links. The complete product life cycle assessment scope should be ‘cradle’ to the grave’, but due to the difficulty in collecting downstream data of textile products in the sales, use, and waste stages, there are currently few implementation cases. On the other hand, very few products cannot trace the data of fiber raw materials and there are no relevant raw materials in the database. For data, only the ‘gate to gate’ evaluation boundary can be selected, which reflects the difficulty of tracing the origin of some fiber raw materials.”
To evaluate the carbon emissions of enterprises and products, it is fundamental to understand the industry background and build a database.
Carbon neutrality is a marathon, and Hu Kehua always maintains an optimistic and cautious attitude towards the industry’s understanding. He said: “The Fashion Industry Climate Action Charter of the United Nations Climate Change Conference proposed that the entire industry achieve net zero emissions by 2050. As the world’s largest textile producer and consumer, my country Textile Federation took the lead in proposing the 2050 plan as early as 2017. We will realize the grand vision of zero-carbon industry by 2020,” said Hu Kehua.
Hu Kehua expects that in the further future, China Textile Federation will continue to mobilize all relevant parties in my country’s textile and apparel industry to join climate action, guide and promote my country’s textile and apparel industry to truly achieve “carbon” synergy in the value chain through the power of the industry, that is, value Consumers, brands, and manufacturing companies in the chain form a “carbon” resonance, helping to achieve national emission reduction goals and promoting the green transformation of the global fashion industry.
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