Taking a stand up to business as usual approach, renewable wood fiber producer the Lenzing Group outlined its commitment to sustainable practices in its recently released Sustainability Report for 2019. The company noted when it comes to climate change, business as usual scenarios have to be overcome; thus the company is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emission per ton of product by 59 per cent by 2030.

Lenzing also highlighted its focus on the circular economy. To address the issue of textile waste, the company developed its Refibra recycling technology, which enables garment production waste to be reprocessed into fibers. By recycling worn garments for the first time in the production of Tencel x Refibra fibers, Lenzing achieved a further milestone in 2019 in establishing this pioneering technology in the global market.

Lenzing’s vision is to turn the recycling of textile waste into a common standard process like paper recycling. This includes recycling fabrics and garments made of Lenzing materials. Transparency within the value chain was another issue highlighted in the report. Lenzing’s response has been a blockchain technology in cooperation with TextileGenesis that enables customers and consumers to trace the production of a garment to the raw material by scanning a barcode. In 2019, Lenzing presented its first pilot project during the Hong Kong Fashion Summit.

Additionally, Lenzing has identified seven core areas in which it has made direct contributions to the attainment of several sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. These are: raw material security, decarbonization, water stewardship, sustainable innovations, partnering for systemic change, empowering people and enhancing community wellbeing.