Crossing a Divide: Signals of Change in Business
Conscious leaders have begun to consider the global impacts on the biosphere as a key part of their decision making... showing how we can participate in the evolution toward a brighter, better future.
We are crossing a divide into a new world where the role of business is changing, not just for ourselves, but for the sake of all life — the orangutans, blue whales, forests, and coral reef, and the snowy owl — as well as for the biosphere itself.
Increasingly certified as B Corps and Green Business, conscious leaders have begun to address future and global impacts in the decisions they make today. As they learn from real-time data patterns, anticipate trends to inform decision making, restructure supply chains, and prioritize genuine social and environmental responsibility – these innovators have found a way to adopt a global consciousness.
They understand that we are gifted one fertile planet, and that we will succeed or fail together as we consciously participate in the evolution toward a brighter, better future.
Let’s look at one industry, the fashion industry, including apparel and footwear, as an example where a circular economic model, with brands working together to drive real innovations, is the only sustainable choice.
In June 2022, the New Scientist published an article titled “Fast Fashion is ruining the planet – here’s how to make it sustainable”. The first years of fast fashion fed impulse-purchases of low-priced, low-quality clothes, tempting consumers to buy more than they needed or could even use. “From a business perspective, this model has been hugely successful, but from an environmental one, it is an abject failure.”
Fast fashion costs us our future. According to a joint report produced by The Ellen MacArthur Foundation and The Circular Fibres Initiative, “Every second, the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned.” Further research shows that 90 million tons of worn-out, unwanted or unsold clothes are discarded every year. 85 percent of litter on beaches is textile waste. In one year, the fashion industry uses 93 billion cubic meters of water — enough to meet the consumption needs of five million people.
The consequences for the Earth, the atmosphere, the rivers, and oceans are severe. According to the UN, textile production dumps a total of half a million tons of microplastics pollution into the ocean each year. As the New Scientist article continued, “Unchecked, the fashion industry alone will produce a quarter of the carbon dioxide we can afford to emit by 2050 if we are to have a chance of staying below 2°C of warming. Definitely not cool.”
These statistics are corroborated by the World Bank, which noted in 2019 that the fashion industry is responsible for 10 % of annual global carbon emissions, more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined. If this pace continues, the fashion industry’s greenhouse gas emissions will surge more than 50% by 2030.
What practices already exist to reduce the immensity of this carbon footprint?
Smaller brands like Eileen Fisher and Patagonia are pioneering approaches for a future without waste. They cut emissions across the supply chain – from sourcing to manufacturing to worker health to communities to shipping to re-use/re-purpose. Both companies act as stewards with a new retail model of producing less while advancing the circular economy.
As Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia in 1973, recently announced, “Earth is now our only shareholder.” Any profit not reinvested in running the business will go to fighting climate change.
Designing clothes to last, both companies center operations around a fundamental principle of circular by design. New clothes are sustainably sourced, manufactured and shipped. Each year they increase the percentage of organic cottons, accredited no-harm down, and apparel assembly factories that pay a living wage. They take back clothes to be resold, donated, repaired, or remade into new designs. Eileen Fisher has reclaimed over 1.5 million pieces in the past 13 years. 72% of Patagonia’s line uses recycled material. They make clothes in a way that mirrors a lifetime commitment to customers, and the planet.
This is an entirely different way to do business: leaders who adopt a global consciousness inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.
Ultimately though, company by company isn’t fast enough. The key is collaboration between key value chain partners (such as brands, funders, retailers, factories, governments, NGOs, and consumers) in partnership with the financial and operational resources to successfully scale innovations.
One of my long-term clients, Lewis Perkins, and his team at The Apparel Impact Institute (Aii) identify, fund, and scale proven environmental solutions in the fashion industry. They have just announced $250M Fashion Climate Fund uniting brands, philanthropic donors, and industry stakeholders. To date, lead funders include lululemon, H & M Group, H & M Foundation, HSBC, The Schmidt Family Foundation, and more. Pioneering a collaborative funding model, the Fund is designed to unlock an estimated $2B in additional asset classes, including debt and equity, to help halve apparel industry carbon emissions by 2030.
The science behind their work is applicable to other industries too. In 2021, Fashion For Good (FGG) and Apparel Impact Institute (Aii) co-authored “Unlocking The Trillion-Dollar Fashion Decarbonisation Opportunity Report,” which for the first time, charts a trajectory for the fashion industry to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The report maps 4 tiers of emissions (the highest % is surprising) and solutions focused on these tiers. They also break down the financing and funders, mapping a clear path of action for the future.
Embedded in these examples of creativity, collaboration, and enterprise are new models for how to think and operate in a world that has fundamentally changed. Leaders and organizations that consciously integrate these changes into strategic planning, operations, and industry collaborations will be best placed to face a rapidly evolving future.
We face a choice every day: to continue to deplete resources and rob from the future, or to participate in the work of regenerative evolution, allowing the vitality of our beautiful world to flourish for the many generations to come.
As I’m writing this, my daughter sent me an audio recording – the heartbeat of our newest grandson due in a few months. Hearing this, in my heart of hearts, the call for substantial change grows more urgent by the day. Let’s focus our attention, our dollars, and our leadership to accelerate the transformation in business as wise and active agents of world change.
***
Interested in making a difference today? Decide on how many garments you’ll buy this year. One friend says 11 is her max. Another says 5 and someone else, 25. When you buy, check out the supply chain. Look at the green fashion rating website Good On You. Ask questions. Look for the B Corp certification.
As the role of business is changing – we can also personally support focused programs addressing the endangered on our planet I mentioned in the first paragraph. Click on one of these below to see how we can be part of the solution in small and large ways.
An earlier version of this article was first posted as a blog on Karen’s website, July 2022.
Karen Wilhelm Buckley is Founder and Principal Consultant with Communicore Consulting Services. For over three decades, Karen and her team have partnered with key leaders in the public and private sector to integrate what is necessary for the success of the human heart with what is required for a highly successful business and a regenerative relationship with our beautiful Earth home.
Leave a Comment