STOCKHOLM - The Scandinavian Textile Initiative for Climate Action (STICA) has organised a week of webinars to highlight the challenges facing the apparel industry in reducing its carbon footprint.

STICA's Climate Action Week for Fashion and Apparel will feature discussions on a range of climate-related issues featuring experts from across the industry from 18th-22nd March.

Speakers include H&M climate impact lead Henrik Sundberg; Lars Fogh Mortensen of the European Environment Agency; Beth Jensen, climate+ impact director at Textile Exchange; Pauline op de Beeck from the Apparel Impact Institute; Lindita Xhaferi-Salihu of UN Climate Change; Paola Migliorini, environment policy officer at the European Commission; and Maxine Bédat, founder of the New Standard Institute.

The event begins on Monday 18th March with two webinars - 'What Gets Measured Gets Managed: But Are We Measuring the Right Things And Are We Measuring Them Right?' and 'Fibre Production & GHG Emission Reductions: How Important Is What Is Made VS. How It Is Made? Are Natural Fibres and Synthetics Equally Problematic?'

Tuesday will see three webinars: 'We Have Set Science-Based Targets for GHG Reductions, But How Feasible & Realistic Are Our Climate & Energy Goals?'; 'Show Me The Money: For Financing the Transition'; and 'Voluntary Industry Organisations & Climate Initiatives: How Effective Are They & What More Can They Do?'

Legislative proposals to mitigate the climate crisis will be the theme on the third day with two sessions - one looking at legislation and regulation in the European Union, the other examining the same topics in the US.

Three webinars are planned for Thursday: 'Keeping the Pressure On: Watchdogs & Climate Action'; 'Climate Action Means Transition – But How Do We Ensure This Transition Is Just?'; and 'Circular Business Models Are Critical for Climate Action – So What Is Preventing Them From Becoming Mainstream?'

The week concludes on Friday with a final session, entitled 'Green-growth, Overconsumption & Degrowth: Can Sufficient Emissions Reductions Be Achieved within the Current Paradigm?'

Full details are available on the website of the Sustainable Fashion Academy, which co-ordinates STICA, where a statement talks about the daunting nature of the task facing the industry in terms of meeting its climate targets.

"Our progress is too slow and the challenges ahead are many. But we must stay the course. During this week we will interrogate the topic from various perspectives, with contributions from global leaders and practitioners," it says.

"We will hear from government representatives, policy designers and policy makers, brands and manufacturers, industry organisations and watchdogs, researchers, investors and journalists. We will identify what we should keep doing, what we should stop doing and what more we can still do."