Campaign groups call on Inditex to stop airborne fashion

Inditex, the parent company of brands such as Zara, is continuing to transport huge volumes of fast fashion items by air, causing considerable damage to the climate. In 2023, its transport-related CO2 emissions increased by 37%, reaching an all-time high. As the company’s management is ignoring a call by more than 26,000 people for it to change its course, Public Eye, Clean Clothes Campaign and other campaign groups are now turning to the shareholders of the Spanish fast-fashion group.

Transporting fashion items by air produces a huge and totally unnecessary amount of greenhouse gas. This is why 26,192 people called on Inditex in February 2024 to stop the insane practice of flying clothes around the world and thereby to halt the accompanying damage to the climate. Unfortunately, there is no sign of the company changing its course. On the contrary, in its most recent Annual Report Inditex has not presented any plans to bring fashion back down to earth. In the last financial year, its transport emissions have seen a drastic increase of 37%.

Ahead of Inditex's Annual General Meeting on July 9th, campaigners are reminding Inditex of the demands and are also calling on the company's shareholders to take responsibility for the climate and put the company on an ecologically viable course.

Demands to Inditex:

  • Be honest about your carbon footprint and publish the data about your cargo flights and emissions.
  • Begin a rapid and complete phase-out of airborne fashion. Set clear targets and draw up a phase-out strategy.
  • Redesign your logistics systems so that they can function without these climate-damaging flights. Take the time pressure out of your business model and pay your suppliers prices that cover the cost of sustainable production, including living wages.
  • Use your record profits to fund the transformation of Inditex.
     

2023: Record increase in transport emissions

In response to Public Eye research, on the huge volumes of airborne fashion, Inditex has highlighted two figures in particular. Since 2018, its transport-related emissions have fallen by 13% and, in 2022, the company reduced the volume of its air freight by 25%. If this sounds good, unfortunately that’s because it’s too good! Inditex has simply picked the one year when it happened to transport smaller amounts of goods by air, which is probably due primarily to the disappearance of its important Russian business following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In fact, the long-term trend shows an ongoing increase. In 2023, the transport-related emissions of greenhouse gases included in the Inditex annual report were 37% higher than the previous year and it is likely that air freight made up the majority of this. At almost 2000 kilotonnes of CO2-equivalents (CO2e), the emissions have reached an all-time high.

For more data and background, see full article here.

published 2024-07-08