Planet Tracker: environmental transition leads to planet saving and cost-saving

Planet Tracker is a non-profit financial think tank aligning financial markets to sustainable future, focusing on oceans, food & land use and materials such as textiles and plastics. According to their latest report, wet processors – with the largest environmental impact in the textiles, apparel and clothing (TAC) supply chain – have the opportunity to make simple, practical improvements to not only achieve environmental benefits, but also considerable financial benefits.

The report – produced in collaboration with the Apparel Impact Institute (Aii) –  also shows that investment in processes that lower the environmental footprint of wet processing facilities could produce a large water savings percentage and considerable greenhouse gas reduction. Besides, it will also lead to substantial annual cost savings.  However, due to factors such as a lack of access to knowledge and insufficient pressure from both regulators and consumers, these changes fail to have been widely implemented as yet. Although they are often simple to implement – such as installing meters, reusing cooling water and wastewater and improving insulation.

The report calls on investors to actively seek opportunities to directly invest in the supply chain of textiles producers, to put pressure on brands to give transparency in the supply chain and to encourage them to invest in supply chain improvements.