France could soon pass a decree requiring every item of clothing sold in the country to carry a label detailing its exact impact on the climate.
The European Union is considering a similar rule for the rest of its members.
A multitude of factors determine a piece of clothing’s sustainability credentials, from where and how its raw materials were grown, to what dyes where used in the colouring process and how far it travelled before arriving in store.
The French Agency for Ecological Transition is currently testing 11 proposals for how to collect and compare this data. It is using 500 items of clothing to determine what the new labelling system might eventually look like.
“The message of the law is clear — it will become obligatory, so brands need to prepare, to make their products traceable, to organise the automatic collection of data," says Erwan Autret, one of the coordinators at the French agency.
"Some say the models are too simple, some say they're too complicated, but it's a sign of the maturity of the debate that no one questions the need for these calculations anymore.”
The agency is expected to collate the results of its testing in the coming months, before handing the results to lawmakers.
According to the United Nations, the fashion industry contributes between 2 and 4 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions due to its expansive supply chains and energy intensive production processes. "The fashion industry produces about 20 per cent of global wastewater, while 85 per cent of textiles end up in landfills or are incinerated when most of these materials could be reused," the orgianisation says.
"Overall, the industry consumes more energy than the aviation and shipping industry combined, which highlights the importance of emissions reductions across the sector."
In response, the UN set up the Fashion Charter in 2018 "to provide a clear pathway for the fashion industry to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050".
Initiatives such as this latest one in France can play an important role in tackling the problem, by encouraging brands to be more transparent and shoppers to be more conscious and cautious with their consumption.
"It will force brands to be more transparent and informed ... to collect data and create long-term relationships with their suppliers, all things they're not used to doing," says Victoire Satto of The Good Goods, a media agency focused on sustainable fashion.
"Right now it seems infinitely complex. But we've seen it applied in other industries such as medical supplies.”
But for some activists, the decree does not go far enough. "It's really good to put an emphasis on life cycle analysis but we need to do something about it beyond just labels," said Valeria Botta of the Environmental Coalition on Standards.
"The focus should be on setting clear rules on product design to ban the worst products from the market, ban the destruction of returned and unsold goods and set production limits. Consumers should not have to fight to find a sustainable option — that should be the default.”
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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Singapore
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Australia
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Countries offering golden visas
UK
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Italy
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Switzerland
Residence Programme offers residence to applicants and their families through economic contributions. The applicant must agree to pay an annual lump sum in tax.
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Start-Up Visa Programme allows foreign entrepreneurs the opportunity to create a business in Canada and apply for permanent residence.
What is graphene?
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.
It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.
But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties.
South Africa squad
: Faf du Plessis (captain), Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock (wkt), Theunis de Bruyn, AB de Villiers, Dean Elgar, Heinrich Klaasen (wkt), Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Morne Morkel, Chris Morris, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Duanne Olivier, Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada.
