Garment workers in a factory at the Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone. Hong Menea
GIZ fabric – a project of the German international development agency Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) to promote sustainability in the textile and garment industry in Asia – on October 18 launched the “Climate Action Training for the Fashion Industry” to support the industry’s effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across its supply chains.
The training is conducted in cooperation with the Fashion Charter for Climate Action convened by UN Climate Change and environmental expert group South Pole, according to a press statement from GIZ FABRIC.
The training is a tailor-made course for textile and garment suppliers to learn what greenhouse gas emissions are, how to account for their emissions, how to set reduction targets, and what the available solutions are in the field of energy efficiency and renewable energy, the statement said.
The free, web-based training is aimed at supporting textile, and garment and footwear suppliers in Asia, targeting finished products and material production to understand the impact of climate change and manufacturers’ role in cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
The training is available on www.atingi.org in English, Khmer, Chinese, Bengali and Vietnamese and can be completed for free in self-pace mode with the aim to reach local suppliers in key production centres.
The training can be delivered by qualified local trainers to guide suppliers through the training course for more comprehensive learning, also known as the tutor-guided course.
As part of this project, more than 15 service providers, who are local organisations and consultants, in Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia and Pakistan have been trained by South Pole and GIZ FABRIC to deliver the course and can be commissioned for more in-depth tutor-guided courses.
Currently, tutor-guided training with more than 80 suppliers in four countries is running and supported by GIZ FABRIC. The feedback will be used to further improve the training programme.
“GIZ FABRIC is glad to support the programme as it is an effective and simple to use tool to understand climate change not only on the buyers’ side but even more importantly on the supplier side where most of the emissions occur,” said GIZ FABRIC director Marc Beckmann.
The open-source training is offered in several Asian languages, aiming to create change in an industry that represents between four to eight per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions but to date has not seen significant climate action.
Lindita Xhaferi-Salihu, the UN global climate outreach officer, said: “The delivery of the training was a great example of collaboration supported by GIZ FABRIC to build capacity to ramp up climate action along the supply chain.”
GIZ FABRIC said the industry is also impacted by climate change, facing growing risks. These include interruption to supply chains, in particular production and transportation, higher energy and water prices, and a growing demand for climate-friendly products.
“This is why numerous brands and manufacturers have set climate targets and committed to the Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action aiming to drive the industry to net-zero emissions by 2050,” it said.
