Decarbonization of Textile Production

Production and Distribution of Electricity and Heat

The textile sector plays a very important role in the sustainability of manufacturing industries. With around 10% of total anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions globally, considering the whole value chain, the textile sector clearly plays a decisive role in climate mitigation policies addressing multiple issues such as material supply, manufacturing and users’ behavior. Similarly, the sector can play a very important role in the field of socio-economic sustainability; while in fact the garment packaging and shoes’ production sector employs about 60,000,000 million workers in the world, it is estimated that about 100,000,000 children are directly or indirectly involved in the sector as workers, children of workers in the sector or members of communities settled in raw material production fields or production plants proximity. The global production of textile is about 60 million tons per year, with the deployment of about 60% of synthetic fibers and a very wide use of polyesters produced by processes with high greenhouse gas emissions. Globally, considering the situation in 2019, the production of textile products absorbed about 2.5 EJ of energy, equal to about 2% of final consumption in industry and 3% of consumption of the entire manufacturing sector. If we consider the entire value chain, from the production of raw materials to the use of textile products, it is estimated that emissions can amount to more than 2.1 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year equal to about 4% of global emissions. Other estimates report values of up to 10% of total emissions since it is difficult to account emissions in the consumers’ end use phases. In addition to carbon dioxide emissions, the textile sector also has a very high impact in terms of land and water use and contamination of the same. It is estimated that 20% of the total pollution of the planet's waters is linked to textile production processes. The technologies for the decarbonization of the sector can be classified into three macro-categories of intervention: the technologies that intervene in the upstream supply chain including the decarbonization of the production of raw materials, the processing of the same and the final processing of garments; the technologies that intervene in the retail chain including the selection of sustainable raw materials, packaging and transport, the sales phase; technologies to increase the circularity of the sector and promote the sustainable behavior of end users. In response to the upstream supply chain, it is necessary to focus on decarbonization in the production of raw materials, the use of renewable sources for the production of energy used in the sector, the energy efficiency of the machines used in the sector including spinning, weaving, sewing. Within the retail chain, it is necessary to focus on the choice of materials or the mix of materials for the production of clothing, the overall logistics taking into account transport and packaging, finally the distribution of products also considering the management of returns. The last area that must be considered for the decarbonization of the sector is related to consumer behavior both in the use of products, raising awareness of a correct sanitation of clothing also on the basis of the fabrics used, and in the circularity of the value chain that today is characterized by very low recycling rates.

29-07-2022

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