C&A Reduces Carbon and Water Footprints Significantly

In 2018, C&A’s global sustainable materials strategy — driven by more sustainable sources of cotton and cellulosic fibres — avoided 116,000 tons of CO₂ emissions (mtCO₂e), equivalent to the yearly CO₂ emissions of over 70,000 passenger cars. C&A also saved 1 billion m³ of water – the equivalent of 400,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools^[4]. This and other progress is detailed in C&A’s annual Global Sustainability Report, published today.

C&A reduced its global carbon footprint by 12% in 2018^[5], thanks to more sustainable raw materials. Currently, 71% of the cotton sourced is either organic cotton or sourced as Better Cotton, and recycled materials are also playing an increased role. In Europe, C&A sold 95,000 pieces containing recycled cotton and more than 300,000 items containing recycled polyester.

“Half of the raw materials used in our collections are sourced more sustainably where we can clearly see that our actions are helping the environment, improving smallholder farmer livelihoods and making it easy for our customers to make more sustainable choices,” said Jeffrey Hogue, C&A’s Chief Sustainability Officer.

2018 also marked a year of closer collaboration with the industry to create systemic change. C&A continued its active involvement with ACT (Action, Collaboration, Transformation), a ground-breaking, multi-stakeholder agreement to improve wages for garment workers, with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and Fashion for Good to drive circular economy approaches in the apparel industry, and with C&A Foundation to support systemic and industry-wide change in social and environmental practices. “In line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, we continue to seek unconventional collaboration and innovation to create fashion with a positive impact,” said Hogue.

The launch of the 2018 Global Sustainability Report coincides with the release of C&A Foundation’s 2018 Annual Report. In its fifth-anniversary edition, C&A Foundation’s report reviews the highlights and breakthrough moments of 2018 and shares the lessons learned from its first years of grant-making.

“In these five years, we have learned a lot about what works – and what doesn’t – when using patient, philanthropic capital to try to effect large shifts in a system,” says Leslie Johnston, C&A Foundation Executive Director, in her letter opening the 2018 Annual Report. “All of these lessons will inform our work as we look towards the next five years… It is time for C&A Foundation to step up our effort, and it is time for the entire industry to use its collective power to make fashion a force for good.”

*** Notes to the Editor ***

About C&A
With nearly 1,900 stores in 21 countries worldwide and around 51,000 employees, C&A is a leading fashion retail business. C&A welcomes and provides millions of visitors each day with good quality fashion at affordable prices for their entire family. C&A is an enterprise of COFRA Holding AG with a presence in Europe, Brazil, Mexico and China. For more information, see www.c-a.com.

About C&A Foundation
C&A Foundation is a corporate foundation here to transform the fashion industry. We give our partners financial support, expertise and networks so they can make the fashion industry work better for every person it touches. We do this because we believe that despite the vast and complex challenges we face, we can work together to make fashion a force for good. http://www.candafoundation.org.

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Source: CSRwire Press Releases, Events and Reports