How can fashion (M)SMEs better prepare for the impacts of climate change while navigating an increasingly complex sustainability transition?
As part of the JUST FASHION project, six pilot fashion companies worked to identify the climate-related risks affecting their operations and value chains and translate these findings into Climate Transition Plans.
The process was led by Eurecat’s Technological Consultancy Department (https://eurecat.org/en/services/technology-consultancy/), with expert support from Eurecat’s Climate Solutions and Ecosystem Services (https://eurecat.org/en/climate-solutions-and-ecosystem-services/) area. It combined a Climate Risk Assessment with diagnostic interviews, value chain analysis, climate projections and participatory workshops, helping companies move from climate awareness to practical action.
The assessment considered both physical climate risks, such as heatwaves, flooding and changing temperature patterns, and transition risks linked to regulatory changes, technology, market shifts and increasing sustainability requirements.
One of the main findings is that climate risks often do not affect only the company’s own facilities. For European fashion (M)SMEs, important vulnerabilities are frequently concentrated further up the value chain, in raw material sourcing, textile processing, manufacturing and global logistics. Transition challenges are also becoming more relevant. These include new regulatory requirements, such as the Digital Product Passport (DPP) and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), as well as fragmented supply-chain data and growing supplier compliance demands on suppliers.
Building climate resilience also starts with understanding the risks affecting a company’s own operations. The pilot assessments showed that physical risks affecting offices, warehouses, stores and production sites are not always systematically considered, even as heatwaves, flooding and extreme rainfall are becoming more frequent across Europe. Preparing for these impacts is becoming increasingly important, while resilience across the wider supply chain remains a key challenge for the fashion sector.
Based on these findings, each pilot developed a preliminary Climate Transition Plan bringing together mitigation, adaptation and enabling actions, and helping companies decide which actions to prioritise over time.
JUST FASHION partners are now working with the six pilots towards their final Climate Transition Plans. The pilot experiments and lessons learned will be used to refine the proposed actions and improve their implementation pathways.
More information on the process, including practical guidance and templates, will be available soon through the JUST FASHION platform.
Stay tuned!
