Estimates vary between eight and ten percent: this is how high the proportion of global CO2 emissions attributable to the fashion industry is estimated. Their business model has not been particularly sustainable in recent years: how long the clothes can be worn determines the trend, not the durability.
For the industry, this could be a problem, should the fashion chains in the focus of climate activists and the media, warns H & M CEO Karl-Johan Persson in a conversation with the news agency "Bloomberg". Many of the recent protests functioned like "stop doing things, stop consuming, stop flying".
Such broad public actions could only "have a small impact on the environment, but terrible social consequences," Persson said. Climate policy is indeed "incredibly important." But she should not override all other problems or even push into the background. It is important to "continue to create jobs at the same time to improve health care - and all this comes with economic growth." This also applies to the reduction of poverty.
H & M was pilloried in the past because the company burned unsold goods. The Group has meanwhile announced that it will pursue the goal of climate neutrality in the coming years.
