It’s hard to wrap your head around COP26. Was it a success? Was it a step in the right direction? It was the first year that fashion took a central position in proceedings: The United Nations Environment Program updated the fashion charter and added added 130 extra signatories, including LVMH. In this redraft, there are stronger commitments to reaching net zero by 2050. In fact, it was released that in the first 15 years of this century, clothing production has doubled but the number of times a garment was worn before being discarded decreased by 36%. “Degrowth” was the word of the day with brands trialling streamlining their manufacturing process and ideas were touted including incentivising companies to use less-polluting materials, and scannable tags that use blockchain technology to tell a product’s production history.
At the eleventh hour, the wording of the Glasgow Climate Pact was watered down around subsidies and coal use. And though it left the COP26 President Alok Sharma holding back tears, there was one big takeaway from it all: People need to be more engaged with the issues of climate chaos because to topple the polluters and fossil fuel companies controlling the conversation, it’s our joined voices coming together that will make action happen.