The evolution of sustainability certificates

The certifications cover aspects such as reducing air pollution and CO₂ emissions, the use of energy-efficient technologies, the optimisation of water consumption, limiting the use of harmful chemicals and promoting recycling and waste management. International standards such as ISO 14001 for environmental management and the industry standard Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC) for chemicals are important trailblazers for greater sustainability in the textile industry. Numerous private-sec-tor labels such as OEKO-TEX® STeP for sustainable production, amfori BEPI (Business Environmental Performance Initiative) for improved environmental performance and bluesign® for the optimisation of environmentally friendly production processes and use of chemicals have been established and contribute to reducing the environmental impact of the textile industry. 

Sustainable processes in practice 

With OEKO-TEX® STeP, for example, individual processes in a textile company can be evaluated with regard to their environmental performance. This enables the water and CO₂ footprint of operational processes to be calculated, among other aspects. Production facilities can use these results to introduced targeted measures to reduce water or CO₂-intensive processes. 

Another example is the use of closed water cycles with the help of membrane filtration, which is recognised as environmentally friendly in line with ZDHC waste water guidelines and enables the recovery of water, chemicals and dyes from textile production. A third example is the enzymatic treatment of textiles, which is heralded as a sustainable alternative to chemical processes by certifiers such as bluesign®, as it uses biological catalysts to help reduce the use of chemicals. 

Spoilt for choice 

Unfortunately, the certification market is becoming progressively more confusing. An EU study identified 230 sustainability and 100 “green” energy labels¹ in 2020 alone, all of which varied in their level of transparency. ‘Many of these also extend to the textile industry’, says Katja Hetzer from the Hohenstein Research Institute. ‘For medium-sized companies in particular, this is becoming an ever greater challenge.’ Hohenstein is an internationally renowned institute in the field of testing, certification and research of textile products, a founder member of the OEKO-TEX® Association and also, by its own reckoning, their biggest certification provider.

This lack of clarity also stems from the fact that the certificates vary not only in their scope, but also their reach – while some only take into account individual textile production steps, others cover the entire value chain. This means that there is no uniform framework for evaluating and comparing textile sustainability performance.

‘We can’t do all the certificates’ 

Petra Schweigert, Managing Director of Oberbadische Bettfedernfabrik (OBB) describes the dilemma facing many small and medium-sized textile companies: ‘We have always placed great value on sustainability and proven it with certificates. But the growing number of them, the admin associated with them and the rising costs of the various labels are forcing us to set priorities – to the point where we cannot do them all despite the fact we would meet the requirements’. 

Another problem, she says, is that medium-sized companies are certified in exactly the same way as large companies. ‘With 15 people working in administration, we can’t achieve the same amount as a corporation that has its own sustainability department’, emphasises the managing director. If those who would actually meet the requirements are being deterred from process certification due to cost and effort, that is a problem.

Fewer standards, greater impact 

A process of further developing and reworking environmental standards has therefore begun. New EU requirements such as the EmpCo Directive and Green Claims Directive should ensure stricter rules for environmental claims and sustainability labels in the future. In line with the saying ‘less is more (sustainability)’, they aim to reduce the number of environmental labels. While the EmpCo Directive prohibits anyone from making general environmental claims without certification, the Green Claims Directive will only permit new private-sector standards if they offer added value over and above existing labels. 

For Hohenstein consultant Katja Hetzer, one thing is clear: ‘This will fundamentally change the nature of sustainability communication and the label landscape’. This is because well-founded, verifiable environmental standards give rise to greater reliability and comparability for both consumers and companies. At the same time, Hetzer says, digital transformation is opening up new opportunities. The planned digital product passport, which also builds on experiences with established labels, will be a better way of capturing sustainability data along the supply chain and will also make the data easier for consumers to access. In addition to digitalisation and the new EU requirements, however, Hetzer also suggests that established certificates will still be valuable as monitoring tools for textile production processes: ‘They were introduced to create reliable standards and make sustainability performance quantifiable and many of them continue to do this very well’. 

Key Learnings 

• The importance of process certifications Environmental certificates are crucial for measuring and comparing sustainability performance in the textile industry. 
• Challenges posed by the confusing certification landscape The certification market is complex, especially for medium-sized companies and is associated with not only considerable administration efforts, but also high costs.
• The future of environmental standards and digitalisation New EU regulations such as the EmpCo Directive and Green Claims Directive as well as the digital product passport are aimed at simplifying sustainability communication. 

Cover photo: Marcelo Solis / pexels

¹ European Commission online, Green Claims. As of editorial deadline: The European Commission and the European Council are currently deliberating on whether and in what form the current version of the Green Claims Regulation will be enacted.