Major fashion brands, including H&M, M&S and C&A, are supporting the Circular Fashion Initiative in Bangladesh that aims to use more recycled materials in clothing production and significantly cut planet-heating emissions from manufacturing by 2030.

As per Fashion Network, the Circular Fashion Partnership, brings together more than 30 international brands, Bangladeshi recycling firms and garment manufacturers in a push to reuse textile waste from clothing factories to create new products.

If successful, the initiative could be replicated in other countries, such as Indonesia and Vietnam, and help cut the broader fashion industry’s emissions, said the Global Fashion Agenda (GFA), a nonprofit body that is leading the new scheme.

In 2018, the sector’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were just over 2 billion tonnes, a figure that needs to be halved by 2030, to be in line with global climate goals, said the GFA.The partnership would cut carbon emissions from clothing production and demand for raw materials, which include fossil fuels, by slimming down the amount of waste and increasing the use of recycled materials over virgin materials, she noted.

Under the 2015 Paris climate accord, nearly 200 countries agreed to slash greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by mid-century and limit global average temperature rise to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial times.