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Our assessments show that, compared with other consumption categories, textiles consumption in the EU caused in 2020 the third highest pressures on water and land use, and the fifth highest use of raw materials and greenhouse gas emissions.
It is estimated that per average person in the EU, textile consumption required 9 m³ of water, 400 m² of land, 391 kg of raw materials, and caused a carbon footprint of about 270 kg. The release of microfibers and microplastics into the environment, mainly from washing synthetics, is also a concern along with the presence of PFAS in some textiles. The EU Commission has issued an EU Strategy on Sustainable and Circular Textiles, which is now being implemented through concrete legislation.
Environmental and climate impacts from textiles can be reduced through less fast fashion, longer use, reuse and recycling, including through implementation and scaling of circular business for textiles.
For more information, please see:
- Textiles and the environment: The role of design in Europe’s circular economy
- Investigating Europe′s secondary raw material markets
- Microplastics from textiles: towards a circular economy for textiles in Europe