This figure is equal to more than 30 per cent of global de minimis shipments to the US last year according to a new report from the The US House select committee on China. The committee, which is investigating Temu and Shein, says its latest findings raise serious concerns about products made with forced labour entering the US.

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Helmersson’s claim is at odds with an investigation by journalists at Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet. Staffan Lindberg and Magnus Wennman attached trackers to clothing deposited at H&M’s stores and discovered some clothing ended up in Benin, Africa. Helmersson claimed that, “a garment has ended up in Benin, but it hasn’t ended up in a landfill.”

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Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) is said to have urged investors to reject the retailer’s pay report at its upcoming annual general meeting (AGM) after its leadership team was awarded bonuses for the year to February 2023.

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The event will focus on technological and financial challenges around reducing emissions. Most of the world’s leading fashion brands have now set ambitious targets for reducing supply chain emissions. These targets relate to 2030 by which time many brands aim to reduce emissions by 50 per cent, and 2050 where most fashion brands aim to be carbon neutral.

The Bangladesh Climate Forum Action will examine causes of climate crisis, its urgency, impacts we have already seen, and what we can expect under both businesses as usual and rapid decarbonisation scenarios.

Also presenting at the event will be the Government of Bangladesh, which will address Bangladesh’s actions to mitigate the impacts of the climate crisis. Bangladesh, the world’s second largest ready-made garment exporter, is particularly vulnerable to climate change and is ranked the seventh extreme disaster risk-prone country in the world according to a report from the Global Climate Risk Index 2021. Tropical cyclones, tornadoes, floods, coastal and riverbank erosion, droughts and landslides are the major climate-induced hazards in Bangladesh. 

The Bangladesh Climate Forum Action will also look at approaches towards decarbonization, including NetZero goals and timelines. Speakers will discuss globally recognised pathways for electricity/transportation/industry decarbonisation.

Renewable energy will also be under discussion. If fashion brands are to hit climate targets, it is imperative that supply chains switch to renewable energy and away from gas and fossil fuels. The event will look at challenges around the de-carbonisation of the electricity grid in Bangladesh, as well as the rate of transition toward renewable resources by garment factories, including solar power.

A key element of the event will be evaluation of practical solutions for Bangladesh’s RMG industry. It will profile specific solutions such as energy efficiency, machine upgrades, the electrification of thermal loads, direct power purchase agreements and biomass fed thermal systems. It will also discuss the challenges faced in the industry including business climate (and cycles), pricing, financing challenges, target setting and execution, policy opportunities, knowledge gaps and availability/scaling of solutions. 

Financial challenges around decarbonisation of supply chains are significant, and it is far from clear who will pay for the technological upgrades required. While some investment support systems exist – such as lower interest financing – these are not always available, accessible or affordable for the majority of the RMG companies.

The event will explore financial options, changes to business/pricing models, opportunities for de-risking/underwriting investments, direct investment and other tools that need to emerge to address financial challenges and plug the funding gap. The event will also explore opportunities to decouple climate action from business cycles so that the aggressive 2030 targets can be met. 

Event organiser, Mostafiz Uddin, said: “The climate emergency is the foremost issue of our time. How we tackle it has huge implications for fashion brands and their supply chains, which have an outsized impact on carbon emissions.

“There is lots of talk about 2030 but, remember, 2030 is less than seven years away. Ambitious targets have been set by industry, and rightly so. But it is not clear how they will be met, both from a technical and financial perspective.

“This event will bring key decision makers under one roof, people who are in a position to effect lasting, positive change in our industry.

“Bangladesh is the perfect stage for the Climate Action Forum. As well as being a major producer of garments, it is also itself a victim of the increasingly unstable global climate and has witnessed a marked increase in weather extremes in the past decade.

“We have to act on this issue – and we have to act now.”

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Planet Tracker has also created a new interactive dashboard to help investors better understand the textile value chain. This shows that a significant mismatch exists between financial value and emissions in the textiles industry. For instance, fabric manufacturers and producers are responsible for 76 per cent of textile’s impact on climate, but only 7 per cent of its market capitalisation.

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ACT UK brings together a consortium of recycling technologies, textile collectors/sorters, academia, manufacturers, industry associations, technologists and brands/retailers, supported with funding from Innovate UK.

With close involvement of Circle-8 Textile Ecosystems, the project partners are IBM, Marks & Spencer, Tesco, Pangaia, New Look, Reskinned, Salvation Army, Oxfam, Textile Recycling International, Shred Station, Worn Again Technologies, English Fine Cottons, Alex Begg, Camira, Manufacturing Technology Centre, University of Leeds, University of Huddersfield, Textile Recycling Association and WRAP. Other partners are expected to join the consortium.

The project was announced as part of the Creative Industries Council Sector Vision by the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, The Rt Hon Lucy Frazer MP.

Today over 1 million tonnes of used textiles are generated annually in the UK. Estimates suggest a third of these are non-rewearable textiles which are currently being lost to landfill/incineration or are being exported, to be sorted in lower cost labour regions.

Manual sorting of used textiles has its limitations. It is not possible to sort garments by fibre composition ‘by eye’ and pre-processing (button, zip and trim removal) and sizing steps required by textile recyclers haven’t been optimised and customised to meet their individual specifications. No scaled process currently exists which brings all of this into one industrial process or facility.

ACT UK will build on sorting approaches that are currently being trialled in countries such as the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.

The project will bring together and advance key technology components including state of the art optical scanning, robotics, AI, pre-processing (buttons, zips, trim removal) and size reduction equipment – all under one roof.

Adam Mansell, CEO of UKFT, said: “What happens to our textiles when we no longer need them is a growing problem that we cannot ignore. With this ground-breaking project, we’re aiming to create a model to sort and prepare NRT for recycling in a way that’s never been done before, at scale. A national system of recycling plants could save 100,000s of tonnes of material from entering landfill. In turn, the system could generate huge volumes of material for use across the UK textile manufacturing sector.”

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The building was undergoing ongoing construction work aimed at adding four floors when the accident happened. Three of the victims worked for the building contractor and three were from the textile factory.

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