Apparel companies are taking action to bolster their water-management commitments and practices. Growing cotton uses 16 percent to 24 percent of insecticides and up to 40 percent of pesticides applied to fields globally. Source: Shutterstock/Kent Weakley This is the second of a four-part series taking a closer look at how 72 companies in four industries - beverage, apparel, food and high-tech - performed in Ceres’ new Valuing Water Finance Initiative Benchmark report, which assesses how companies are valuing and acting on water as a financial risk and driving the systemic changes needed to protect freshwater systems around the world. The fashion industry is a thirsty one - and much of the water it uses to make the clothes we buy is used to grow cotton. The problem is, by 2040, half of the world’s cotton-growing regions will likely be exposed to severe climate threats - including water scarcity and extreme weather - posing significant financial risk to apparel companies. That’s why, as part of making their supply chains more resilient, companies must adopt stronger commitments to address how their cotton suppliers use and affect water. From fallowed fields to rising irrigation costs, the financial fallout from water-related impacts to cotton and other agricultural commodities is playing out across the globe. Cotton production is accelerating these risks, contributing to pollution and water scarcity. Growing cotton uses 16 percent to 24 percent of the insecticides and up to 40 percent of pesticides applied to fields globally, contaminants that threaten clean water supplies for communities and ecosystems and that are contributing to the deterioration of aquatic life. With a quarter of all freshwater fish species at risk of extinction, this is of particular concern. As apparel sales continue to grow, investors will be looking for apparel companies that rely heavily on cotton to have strong targets for reducing their impacts and... |