Latest news with #EarthDayWomen'sSummit
Forbes
30-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
The Surprising Future Of (Sustainable) Fashion
Zara Summers explains fuchsia leggings made from captured CO2 (l to r) Joan Michelson, Summers, ... More Robin Currey, Alison Ward at Earth Day Women's Summit - 4-22-2025 We may not think one pair of leggings or one t-shirt or cotton dresses that we buy make a difference in the planet or the economy, but they do, according to innovative women leaders in the fashion supply chain at The Earth Day Women's Summit last week at EarthX2025. How can they tell? Some items are labeled. Some of the products sold by LuluLemon, or the parkas and fleece jackets sold by Craig Hoppers in the UK are labeled as CO2 Renew, for example, because they are made from captured CO2 through a process developed by LanzaTech, their Chief Science Officer Zara Summers, Ph.D. explained at the Summit. Summers previously led the ExxonMobil biosciences division for 10 years. 'It's ask yourself, what am I buying today? Is there an alternative that, where this carbon has a second life?' she suggested. The United Nations says the garment industry is the second highest CO2-emitting industry, and that garments make up 7% of our landfills and put 500,000 tons of microplastics into the oceans each year. Screenshot - UN Fashion Alliance Summers explained that the LanzaTech process, oversimplified, is leveraging microbes that turn CO2 into ethanol. That ethanol can become sustainable aviation fuel, for example. 'It's actually a building block of everything that petroleum is used for today,' she said. Joan Michelson holds up CO2-based T-shirt while Zara Summers explains it - at The Earth Day Women's ... More Summit - 4-22-2025 She added that they can make 'pretty much any synthetic fiber that you can get from fossil, we have a path to create.' Then she showed the audience two pieces of clothing she says they made from captured CO2. 'This running shirt started off as a carbon emission from a steel mill in China. And so we're able to, instead of pumping that carbon monoxide and dioxide directly into the atmosphere, we pump it into our massive, kind of like a brewery, but cooler, huge, huge 500,000 liter tanks of living, breathing, spinning out ethanol microbes. And so we harness that.' They also partnered with REI on products. The other clothing is a pair of fuchsia-purple leggings by Athleta of Lululemon (pictured above), which she said were also made from captured CO2. She added that Lululemon has a stated goal of having ~25% of the polyester they use in these leggings 'to be from emissions produced ethanol.' She said it's 'a massive step change.' In the garment industry, 80% of the workers are women. Summers said that she and her team visit the factories using their products because, 'we follow through the whole supply chain.' CottonConnect - women & cotton & climate report 2025 'They (manufacturers and retailers) need to know the people in their supply chains and know where their cotton's coming from,' Alison Ward, CEO of CottonConnect said in a session at the Summit about food, fashion and agriculture in the face of the climate crisis. 'We've started with the farmer and started tracking the cotton from that farmer up in the supply chain.' By using sophisticated tracking systems, they can tell which farm cotton is sourced from in the CottonConnect network. 'We work with people like Primark, Carrefour, big French retailer across Europe and Asia, really. How do we hold them account in their supply chains?' Now they have a QR code, too. 'So when the farmer sells their cotton, that QR code scans that and it goes up into our tracking system,' adding that at this point, 'the equivalent of 1.7 billion t-shirts are being traced through our system.' CottonConnect is a global organization that trains small-scale farmers in regenerative and sustainable agricultural techniques and technologies, especially female farmers in India, Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Peru and Pakistan. They also create partnerships with fashion brands to help those farmers bring their cotton to market. In addition, 'now there's some really clever techs through a couple of companies. There's one which is an isotope test. So you can test the soil in the village, and then the isotope tells you that that cotton is from that soil in that village.' Alison Ward speaking on panel - The Earth Day Women's Summit - 4-22-2025 'There's also a DNA marker that you can spray on the cotton and then it goes through all of the washers and all of the different processing, and you can tell that that is the unique DNA marker that was sprayed at a particular point in the supply chain. So technology's really leaping forward,' Ward explained. Cotton makes up about 25% of global textile production, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and brands are being pressured by consumers – 85% of whom are women – to use more sustainable and ethical business practices. Even in today's economy, a 2024 study by PwC found that a majority of consumers are willing to pay more for sustainably-produced products. 'But right now, just 30% of the world's cotton is classed as 'sustainable',' according to CottonConnect. Paying attention to these steps on the manufacturing side, and buying aligned with our values, are ways we as consumers drive the market.
Forbes
29-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
What Business Can Do To Address Climate Crisis Under Any Administration
Rosie Austin speaking w panel looking on at Earth Day Women's Summit - 4-22-2025 (l to r: Joan ... More Michelson, Helle Bank Jorgensen, Rosie Austin, Danielle Azoulay, Jana Gerber In a poll at The Earth Day Women's Summit last week in Dallas, Texas, 100% of respondents said that business is not doing enough to address the climate crisis. This aligns with a PwC 2024 study that found the same – and that a majority of consumers are willing to pay more for sustainably-made products too. 'Even as consumers look to cheaper, generic options for essentials, they nevertheless cite a willingness to pay 9.7% more for sustainability,' the PwC reported, adding, 'In the year ahead, companies must achieve a delicate balance between consumer affordability and environmental impact if they are to source and retain consumers.' They also found that a majority – over four-fifths – of 'consumers are willing to pay more for sustainability,' and that 'nine-in-ten (85%) say they are experiencing the disruptive impacts of climate change in their lives.' A panel of top business leaders focused on sustainability, clean energy and environment-social-governance (ESG)-related issues at The Earth Day Women's Summit, dove into the issue of what business can do and some of the nuances of doing so at this moment in the global economy. Slide of Business panel - Women's Summit 4-22-2025 The panel included: Helle Bank Jorgensen, Founder/CEO of Competent Boards training and certification programs for board members and prospective board members; Danielle Azoulay, former Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) of L'Oreal and former CSO of Bed, Bath & Beyond, and now CEO of The CSO Shop; Rosie Austin, Principal-Program Manager in AT&T's Environmental Sustainability division; Jana Gerber, President of Microgrids at Scheider Electric. I moderated the panel. at The Earth Day Women's Summit was one day of the five-day EarthX2025 Congress of Conferences. Despite the Trump administration's aggressively-anti-climate and anti-clean energy actions, the business sector is moving forward with sustainable practices. Market forces are demanding it, and they have to protect their operations in the face of extreme weather events wrought by a warming planet. It's a business imperative. Jana Gerber speaking at Earth Day Women's Summit - 4-22-2025. Danielle Azoulay looks on. Rosie Austin speaking at Earth Day Women's Summit - 4-22-2025, Danielle Azoulay looks on Helle Bank Jorgensen speaking on panel at Earth Day Women's Summit - 4-22-2025, Rosie Austin looks ... More on Danielle Azoulay speaking at Earth Day Women's Summit - 4-22-2025, Jana Gerber looks on Companies may take these actions more quietly than they did over the past few years, but they are still taking them. Mother Nature is not waiting, so leaders can't either.
Forbes
29-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
What Business Can Do To Address Climate Crisis – Despite Trump's Actions
In a poll at The Earth Day Women's Summit last week in Dallas, Texas, 100% of respondents said that business is not doing enough to address the climate crisis. This aligns with a PwC 2024 study that found the same – and that a majority of consumers are willing to pay more for sustainably-made products too. 'Even as consumers look to cheaper, generic options for essentials, they nevertheless cite a willingness to pay 9.7% more for sustainability,' the PwC reported, adding, 'In the year ahead, companies must achieve a delicate balance between consumer affordability and environmental impact if they are to source and retain consumers.' They also found that a majority – over four-fifths – of 'consumers are willing to pay more for sustainability,' and that 'nine-in-ten (85%) say they are experiencing the disruptive impacts of climate change in their lives.' A panel of top business leaders focused on sustainability, clean energy and environment-social-governance (ESG)-related issues at The Earth Day Women's Summit, dove into the issue of what business can do and some of the nuances of doing so at this moment in the global economy. Slide of Business panel - Women's Summit 4-22-2025 Karen Campbell Photography The panel included: Helle Bank Jorgensen, Founder/CEO of Competent Boards training and certification programs for board members and prospective board members; Danielle Azoulay, former Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) of L'Oreal and former CSO of Bed, Bath & Beyond, and now CEO of The CSO Shop; Rosie Austin, Principal-Program Manager in AT&T's Environmental Sustainability division; Jana Gerber, President of Microgrids at Scheider Electric. I moderated the panel. at The Earth Day Women's Summit was one day of the five-day EarthX2025 Congress of Conferences. Despite the Trump administration's aggressively-anti-climate and anti-clean energy actions, the business sector is moving forward with sustainable practices. Market forces are demanding it, and they have to protect their operations in the face of extreme weather events wrought by a warming planet. It's a business imperative. Companies may take these actions more quietly than they did over the past few years, but they are still taking them. Mother Nature is not waiting, so leaders can't either.
