How to promote a sustainable, ecological and civilized concept to guide the lifestyle in different fields is one of the work directions that China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) has been paying attention to and digging. In 2018, CBCGDF co-organized the “Zero Fur Sustainable Fashion” forum at the invitation of ACTAsia and launched a cross-disciplinary dialogue with Chinese and foreign academic and fashion industries to effectively link sustainable development, low carbon and fashion. At the beginning of 2019, CBCGDF established ACTAsia Special Fund, aims to work on this topic in a deeper level.

On August 27, CBCGDF was invited to participate in the Climate & Innovation Fashion Summit, co-sponsored by the China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC) and the C-team, to support the practice and progress of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) “Climate Action Charter for Fashion Industries” in China.  

At the beginning of the summit, Wen Xu, a volunteer of the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF), made a documentary about his action across the polar region and recorded the current situation of glacier melting, which highlighted the theme of the summit.

Invited guests made speeches at the conference. Sun Ruizhe, president of CNTAC, said that environmental protection was needed under the international background of climate change and sustainable development of the United Nations. He responded to General Secretary Xi's advocacy that "green mountains and clear water are equal to mountains of gold and silver". High-quality development oriented by green development needs to guide the whole industry to practice the concept of green development, and the protection of the ecological environment is a prerequisite for sustainable development. At present, the whole country uses different methods to deal with Super Typhoon Lekima. If climate change continues, extreme climate events such as temperature rise, glacier melting, and sea-level rise will continue to occur in the future.

Wang Shi, founder of the C-TEAM and China Business Climate Action (CBCA), voiced for the Summit through remote access. He has been a promoter and practitioner of climate change, combining emission reduction with fashion elements, and expressed great satisfaction and excitement.

Gao Yanmin, Director of Consumer Goods Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, reiterated at the summit that green development needs to be combined with regulating the recycling of used textiles and the reuse of chemicals. In addition, the wastewater of printing and dyeing industry needs to be controlled. In order to speed up the construction of the green system and ecological civilization in the textile industry, enterprises should be encouraged to speed up green development and transformation. At present, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has incorporated the ideas of ecological civilization and green development into relevant policy formulation.

Yan Yan, Director of Social Responsibility Office of CNTAC, introduced the recent work at the summit and analyzed the increasing impact of global production and consumption of China's textile and garment industry.

Feng Xin, Vice President of Downstream Business and Enterprise Development of Sateri, said that Sateri is a global leader in the cellulose fiber industry. Its high-quality natural fibers come from renewable plantation forests, and that Sateri has been engaged in innovative research on recycled fibers for a long time, aiming at reducing waste generation quantity from the source.

According to Cai Jinqing, president of Kering Group in Greater China, Kering Group has led 32 fashion and textile companies to sign the Agreement on Environmental Protection of Fashion Industry.

Zhang Dachuan, Chief Content Officer of WWD (Women's Wear Daily), the authoritative media of fashion industry, introduced China's promotion of sustainable development of garment industry and shared the successful cases of sustainable development in China and the sustainable cooperation and exchange platform established by WWD.

Xue Jifeng, Director of Orient International(Holding) Co., Ltd. also introduced the innovative modes and ways that Orient International has been committed to green transformation of textile industry, developed green raw materials, and independently developed differentiated fiber products with liquid coloring, interpreted green fashion with brand, and created green manufacturing with science and technology.

Wen Xu, a volunteer of the CBCGDF and a young Chinese explorer, shared his story of crossing the three poles of the earth (Everest, Arctic, and Antarctica) and his vision of the feasibility of action against climate change and sustainable development at the summit.

Wang Xi, the founder of VLOOP and future youth leader of YGT, introduced their company and industry profile as well as their action on climate change.

Fan Huaxing, head of the China Cycle Fashion Project and EMF Allen MacArthur Foundation, shared the Cycle Fashion with the participants. Zhang Na, founder and chief designer of the Reclothing Bank, introduced some of the work of the Bank and worked with Beijing TONGXINHUHUI to help laid-off women workers get more income.

During the meeting, Puma Group, H&M, Xintianyuan Textile, and Discovery Expedition introduced their work on corporate social responsibility and ecological environment protection respectively.

Wang Ying, Director of Sustainable Development of HSBC China Limited, introduced five major commitments of HSBC's sustainable development strategy, including energy, climate-related financial disclosure group, and ideological leadership. Finally, Hu Kehua, a sustainable development project of the CNTAC, introduced the status of green technology in the textile industry, and there are still concepts and technology bubbles.

In addition, there were also many booths on the theme of the Summit. The content of the booth used the concept of recycling. Many advertising materials that are not suitable for each event are used to make usable bags and environmental protection bags. There were many meaningful and selected patterns on the wall.

The stakeholders in the fashion industry chain and their counterparts in sustainable development and climate gathered together to share the destiny of human beings in the current era, influencing people from all walks of life to respond to global climate action and making outstanding contributions to tackling global climate change.

(Photo credit: Live from the summit site)

Original Chinese article:

http://www.cbcgdf.org/NewsShow/4854/9732.html

By / Li Xue