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The need for action – PEF in its current form is a threat to the wool industry

The need for action – PEF in its current form is a threat to the wool industry

European Union (EU) regulatory proposals for environmental labelling on apparel products currently rate wool and other natural fibres poorly. It is critical that AWI continues to advocate EU policymakers amend the proposals before they become law, especially because other markets across the world could potentially adopt similar initiatives.

As part of the EU’s attempts to shift to a climate-neutral and circular economy, EU policymakers have been working for several years on a tool – the Product Environmental Footprinting (PEF) project – to introduce environmental labelling on apparel products for sale in countries across the EU.

Whilst the objective to guide consumers towards choosing the most sustainable products is laudable, the PEF methodology in its current form, counter intuitively, scores apparel and footwear products made from natural, farmed materials (such as wool) poorly compared to synthetic, mined materials.

Wool is unfairly disadvantaged because the current PEF methodology is narrowly drawn. For example:

  • While PEF factors in all the impacts of farming to produce fibre (such as greenhouse gases, water use, land use), PEF counts the impact of fossil fuels only from the well head – meaning synthetics get a big head start.
  • PEF doesn’t account for the negatives of synthetic materials, such as microplastic pollution or plastic waste from clothing ending up in landfill.
  • PEF doesn’t fully account for the positives of wool, such as biodegradability, renewability, and nature conservation.

The threat to wool and the need for action

The current PEF methodology risks the introduction of greenwashing that will mislead well-intentioned consumers about the environmental impacts of apparel and footwear products – it would encourage them to buy synthetic products in preference to natural products like wool. This could lead to many brands shifting their sourcing away from wool. Therefore, PEF in its current form presents a significant threat to the wool industry.

AWI CEO John Roberts says addressing the biases and limitations within the PEF tool is essential to ensure a fair and accurate assessment of wool’s sustainability credentials.

“It is especially important for the Australian wool industry that the PEF methodology is corrected, because the EU currently consumes about a quarter of all Australian wool,” John said.

“Furthermore, due to the EU being the driving force of environmental footprinting, it is anticipated that the PEF initiative could become the most influential market-facing reporting system for environmental credentials, with other markets across the world potentially adopting similar initiatives in their jurisdictions.”

Source: AWI

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