CARBON FOOTPRINTS
How to sidestep the greenwashing and identify the meaningful steps being taken to reduce the colossal footprint of our running shoes
The running shoe industr y is awash with sustainable messaging, net zero targets and innovative material developments that seek to assure us our running footsteps are treading lighter on the planet, but the uncomfor table truth is these incremental changes in manufacturing are only scratching the surface. And if the current unsustainable manufacturing practices and consumption patterns continue, the pla net will face irreversible ecolog ical consequences, warn scientists.
A panel of industrial eng ineers from Loughborough Universit y ’s Centre for Sustainable Manufacturing and Recycling Technolog ies (SM A RT) has warned that the current initiatives, investments and reg ulations to mitigate the impact of manufacturing on climate change are, at best, slowing down the rate of growth rather than eliminating or reversing the damage caused.
Scientists agree that to have any hope of limiting global warming to a maximum increase of 2%, g reenhouse gas (ghg) emissions need to be reduced by 80% by 2050. Yet the current targets fall far shor t of this level. The latest estimate is that by 2050, ghg emissions will have increased by over 50%, even with all the current policies and targets in place. ‘It is the grossest kind of simplif ication and understatement to say we are not taking enough meaningful action,’ warns Shahin Rahimifard, professor of sustainable eng ineering at SM A RT. And the global trainer industr y is a huge part of the problem – if it were a count r y, it would be the world’s 17th largest polluter, emitting as much CO2as the whole of the UK.
WHAT IS SUSTAINABILITY, ANYWAY?
LET’S GO BACK TO BASICS and ask if we’re all even speaking the same language when it comes to what we’re trying to achieve. Specif ic def initions of what sustainabilit y is and how it can be achieved are diff icult to agree on, but the term broadly relates to surviving on earth for a long time by protecting the environment. Professor Rahimifard arg ues the term is becoming ineffectual, however, because it of ten refers to the ‘least worse opt ion’ and the ‘less bad solut ion’ but does not go far enough towards solving the earth’s manufacturing and consumption problems. And as compa nies set their own emission goals, they all interpret environmental language dif ferently.
Recog nising the vag ueness of the term, the London College of Fashion and publisher Condé Nast have developed a sustainable-fashion glossar y. The term ‘ca rbon neut ra l’, is def ined as equivalent to ‘net zero’ and, in the long term, is achieved by transitioning to an economy that doesn’t rely on burning fossil f uels. This means durable foot wear that is manufactu
