The 2025 Fossil Free Fashion Scorecard from Stand.earth presents a mixed but critical picture of how global apparel and footwear brands are addressing their climate impact, with a handful of leaders and many laggards still heavily reliant on fossil fuels.
Brands Cutting Emissions But Not Fast Enough
Out of 42 global fashion brands analyzed, only 14 brands (33%) reported sustained emissions cuts of more than 10% against their baseline year, and just three are aligned with a 1.5°C pathway, while 17 brands actually increased their carbon footprint. As of 2025, 12 of 42 brands (29%) have set some form of supply chain renewable electricity target, up from five brands in 2023, showing a clear but uneven shift toward cleaner energy in manufacturing countries.
At the same time, only six brands (14%) reported providing any kind of decarbonization project financing for their suppliers, and just one brand, H&M, showed strong evidence…
of non-debt financing, which highlights a major gap in how brands support a just energy transition on the ground. The report also notes that 20 of 42 brands (47%) have public time-bound commitments to phase out coal by 2030, but that figure has stalled rather than grown since the last scorecard.
Fast Fashion And Luxury: Leaders And Laggards In fast fashion, H&M Group (B+) again comes out ahead of rivals like Inditex (C), while Next, Boohoo, SHEIN, and Aritzia sit among six F-rated brands, showing how sharply performance diverges even within the same segment.
Fast fashion brands continue to score poorly on low-carbon materials and circularity, with the highest grade in that category only a C for H&M, Inditex, and Bestseller, despite their investments in next‑gen and recycled fibers.
Luxury shows some momentum: five of seven luxury brands, including Armani, Burberry, Capri Holdings, Chanel, Kering, LVMH, and Prada, improved their overall scores since 2023, with Kering (C+) leading on stricter material sourcing and biodiversity, and a target to cut strategic suppliers’ energy use by 70% by 2035…
Discussion
0 Comments
No comments yet
Start the conversation
Share your take on this story and help shape the discussion.
Sign in to join the discussion.