Shein's Climate Ambitions Have Been Validated. Now What?

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2 days ago

'I am dubious,' Kenneth Pucker wrote—succinctly and pointedly—on LinkedIn on Tuesday.
The Fletcher School at Tufts University professor of the practice was expressing his feelings about Shein, which revealed the same day that it had attained a 'milestone' in its 'climate journey' following the Science Based Targets initiative's validation of its goal to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across its entire value chain by 2050. This means it would remove more carbon dioxide from the air than it would release.
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The Chinese-founded e-tail Goliath said it will achieve this through a 'decarbonization roadmap,' developed with advisory firm Anthesis Group, to reduce its absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions—that is, those produced directly by Shein and the energy it purchases—by 42 percent and its absolute Scope 3 emissions—those produced by its suppliers—by 25 percent by 2030. Steps will include deploying only renewable energy at all directly managed facilities, phasing out fossil fuels in its operations by transitioning to electric vehicles, minimizing the adoption of virgin materials and cutting transportation distances by ramping up local procurement and optimizing logistical routes.
'SBTi's validation of our net-zero targets marks an important step in Shein's decarbonization journey,' Mustan Lalani, a Tetra Pak vet who joined the Singapore-headquartered company as its global head of sustainability in January, said in a statement. 'We are committed to reducing emissions across our value chain and recognize that addressing Scope 3 emissions is a complex but critical part of that effort. As we continue this work, we will build on our momentum and adapt our approach in line with evolving technologies, policies and industry best practices.'
But Shein's planet-warming emissions have never declined year over year, Pucker noted. They have, in fact, nearly tripled over the past three years. In 2023, the Temu nemesis' carbon footprint swelled to 16.7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, up 45 percent from the previous year and 175 percent from the year before that. The number outlaps not only the 16.4 million metric tons in emissions produced by Zara owner Inditex, fashion's previous top polluter, but also those of several countries. It wouldn't be hyperbole to say that Shein is the industry's biggest environmental offender.
At best, Shein's plans are misleading because they focus on Scope 1 and 2 targets that account for less than 0.5 percent of its total emissions, said Rachel Kitchin, senior corporate climate campaigner at Stand.earth, a Canadian watchdog group that ranks the ultra-fast-fashion purveyor last in its Fossil-Free Fashion Scorecard. At worst, its proposal is unattainable without severe changes to its production and distribution model, which is heavily reliant on coal-stoked power generation, high production volumes and extensive air freight, she said.
'We need to see Shein commit to concrete targets—with a goal to phase out on-site coal by 2030 and transition to renewable energy across supply chains—to take this plan seriously,' she said. 'Until the company stops flying millions of small packages around the world, commits to phasing out coal and actively supports a transition to renewable energy across its supply chain, we're deeply skeptical that this announcement is anything more than PR.'
It's perhaps also worth noting that SBTi doesn't probe deeply into a company's underlying business model when reviewing a target, said Michael Sadowski, a climate and sustainability consultant and former Nike director of sustainable business and innovation. What the nonprofit looks at is the data shared voluntarily during target submissions to ensure that it meets the SBTi criteria.
'I don't have any inside info on Shein, and so observing their astronomical growth over the last decade, coupled with their business model, makes me question how they will reduce scope 3 emissions by 25 percent by 2030,' he said. 'I would like to see a detailed plan for how they will achieve this: Will they not ship individual packages by air? Will they fund renewable energy at suppliers or commit to long-term supplier relationships so these partners can invest in renewable energy? Will they invest in fuel switching at mills?'
Sadowski said that fiber switching and 'supporting' manufacturers in transitioning to renewable energy alone won't help Shein reach 25 percent. He said he knows of only a 'small handful' of apparel and footwear brands that have reduced Scope 3 emissions on an absolute basis. They have done so only by investing a lot of money in manufacturers with which they have maintained longstanding relationships.
Shein's announcement comes among rumors that it's pursuing a listing in Hong Kong after Chinese regulators, specifically the China Securities Regulatory Commission, failed to give it the go-ahead for a London IPO after Britain's Financial Conduct Authority greenlit the move. Unnamed sources told Reuters Wednesday that the company plans to go public in the special administrative region within the year. This would make it the third try at going public for Shein, which did not respond to a request for comment. Before its attempt in the United Kingdom, the Missguided owner was reportedly hoping for a New York debut. This was scuppered, it's been said, by a rare united front by Republican and Democratic lawmakers that threw conditions over concerns about China's influence and the potential forced labor of persecuted Muslim minorities.
The retail giant has also had to grapple with questions of trustworthiness. Just this week, national consumer authorities in Belgium, France, Ireland and the Netherlands joined the European Commission to ask Shein to fix practices on its platform that appear to flout EU consumer law, including what they say are 'giving false or deceptive information about the sustainability benefits of certain products.' In 2024, Italy's antitrust agency opened an investigation into a company that manages Shein's online presence in the country over possible greenwashing. Shein has said that it is ready to cooperate openly with authorities.
'If Shein delivers on its plan to grow approximately 25 percent over the near term, that would mean that the carbon intensity unit would have to fall by 85 percent to achieve their target,' said Pucker, still unconvinced. 'Will they achieve their plan?'
On the plus side, Shein's disclosure of SBTi-approved emissions reduction targets, when more than half of 250 major fashion brands fail to do so, is commendable in and of itself, said Liv Simpliciano, policy and research manager at Fashion Revolution, a grassroots organization that scores companies on their transparency—or lack thereof. But it's also what she calls the bare minimum. So far, Shein hasn't divulged its supplier list or annual production volumes, which activists say are necessary to verify brand claims and hold them to account. And by her estimation, only four brands—Asics, H&M Group, Marks & Spencer and Patagonia—have carbon reduction targets that meet the level of ambition that the Paris Agreement has determined will stave off the worst effects of climate change.
'That being said, targets are only as meaningful as the action that follows,' she said. 'The fashion industry remains far off track from delivering the rapid, large-scale emissions cuts that climate science makes unequivocally clear are needed. The polluter pays principle must apply: those with the largest footprints carry the greatest responsibility to act. Targets and ambition levels must match pollution levels.'
More than anything, Peter Ford, a decarbonization consultant who previously worked at H&M Group, thinks that Shein whiffed a chance to have reduction goals with real bite. He said that while all companies need to interrogate their carbon emissions and set targets to reduce them, it is especially imperative that any company whose Scope 3 emissions account for 'practically all of its existing contributions to global heating' set targets that are 'high enough to be impactful.'
'The announced targets for Shein are small, and not even close to aligning with current industry-standard goal of 50 percent reduction by 2030 that UNFCCC Fashion Charter signatories have committed to,' he said, using an acronym for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. 'Industry giants H&M Group and Inditex have SBTis that are even more ambitious, and I feel Shein has missed an opportunity to highlight that it clearly understands the role it currently plays in contributing to global heating—and demonstrate a commitment to meaningfully reduce it.'