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Welcome to the 2021 Biodiversity Insights
First global baseline of the apparel and textile industry.
The Biodiversity Insights Report uses data submitted through the Textile Exchange Biodiversity Benchmark to provide a baseline that tracks the level of engagement and effort that companies are putting into understanding and addressing their impact on the natural world.
Key Insight #1
Biodiversity is fast becoming a focus area for fashion and textile companies.
51% of the 157 participants recognize biodiversity risk as a priority and 59% have made public commitments to address it. And while biodiversity has only recently entered the sustainability conversation for fashion and textile companies, 8% already have an explicit biodiversity strategy in place.
Key Insight #2
Sustainability standards are the most widely used measure by companies seeking to address their biodiversity impact.
An impressive 80% of companies are increasing their uptake of preferred materials as a way of managing their impact on biodiversity. Certified organic cotton and other cotton standards are the most popular.
Key Insight #3
Over a third of companies are starting to take action to remediate biodiversity loss.
Beyond standards, 38% of companies are beginning to implement restorative/regenerative measures in support of biodiversity, opening up opportunities for collaboration across the value chain and within broader landscapes.
Key Insight #4
A growing number of companies are investing in biodiversity either financially or in kind.
38% of companies are making some kind of investment to improve outcomes for biodiversity, focused on projects within their own supply chain or beyond.
Key Insight #5
Greater transparency is still needed to track biodiversity outcomes.
Impact is still limited by the fact that only 14% of companies know the countries where their key raw materials are grown or extracted. Beyond country of origin, companies should also understand the broader landscape of where they are sourcing their materials, and 15% have already started mapping this against priority areas for biodiversity.
Call to Action
Keep up with a fast-developing set of risks
Take action:
Incorporate biodiversity risk and opportunity into corporate strategies.
Move from anonymity to clear line of sight
Take action:
Link materials sourcing strategies to geographies and consider impact beyond uptake.
You’re already doing some of the right things
Take action:
Use production standards as an entry point for managing biodiversity risk but don’t stop there.
Together we can
Take action:
Engage in cross-sector, multistakeholder and landscape-level approaches.
We have the infrastructure to do this
Take action:
Use the Biodiversity Benchmark to speed up action and align with global initiatives.
Important Sustainable Development Goals for Nature
The transition towards a kinder and more sustainable world needs to happen fast.
This means our industry must be socially just, nature positive, and circular.
We have this decade to do it.
Want to become a Company Creating Material Change?
Contact CFMB@TextileExchange.org
Artwork & Animation
Carlotta Cataldi, Hope Foster, Marina Silva
Photography
Gregoire Dubois (Forest of Lobéké National Park, Cameroon) • Gregoire Dubois (Chameleon, Madagascar) • Chetna Organic (Grain preparation, Odisha, India) • Gregoire Dubois (Coral reef, Ras Mohammad National Park, Egypt) • European Outdoor Conservation Association (Identifying lynx tracks, Hnutí DUHA, an environmental movement in the Czech Republic) • Gregoire Dubois (L’Hoest’s Monkey, Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary, Uganda) • Gregoire Dubois (Tigress Maya, Tadoba National Park, India) • Gregoire Dubois (Guanacos, Torres del Paine, Chile)
