Eliminating hazardous chemicals from textile fashion supply chains in India

India is the second-largest global producer of textiles and garments, contributing 2% to its GDP and 12% to export earnings. The industry employs about 45 million workers directly and 60 million indirectly, with a significant portion being women. India's textile sector is dominated by small and micro enterprises and centered in five main regions, accounting for 85% of the total production. The industry uses over 8000 chemicals (including many hazardous chemicals), and thus contribute significantly to global industrial effluents. The Child Project (CP) – ‘Eliminating hazardous chemicals from apparel fashion supply in India’ – aims to eliminate hazardous chemicals from India's apparel supply chain. The CP project promotes sustainable practices and reduces environmental impacts, particularly energy and water use, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The project seeks to transform the textile industry by replacing resource-intensive processes with sustainable alternatives and foster circular and transparent supply chains.

The textile industry faces systemic challenges such as market failure and supply chain fragmentation. The project seeks to address environmental impacts, including reducing persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and GHG emissions. It adopts a holistic value-chain approach to promote cleaner production, resource efficiency, circular business models, sustainable consumption, and innovative materials.

As the first GEF-funded textile project in India, it focuses on the supply chain and lifecycle of textiles, aiming for Global Environmental Benefits (GEBs) derived through interventions at eight clusters (1 - Ahmedabad, 2 - Bhiwandi, 3 - Ichalakaranji, 4 - Kolkata, 5 - Ludhiana, 6 - Panipat, 7 - Surat, and 8 - Tiruppur) and four fashion houses (1 - Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail, 2 - Arvind Ltd, 3 - Tata Trent, and 4 - Vardhman). The project includes six components: (1) innovative design and business models, (2) use of innovative materials, (3) cleaner production, (4) sustainable consumption, (5) post-use 9Rs (reverse logistics), and (6) knowledge management and learning.

The project targets to support over 400 textile factories: cleaner production (320 factories); innovative materials (40 enterprises); and 9Rs practices (40 enterprises). It aims to (a) mitigate 350,000 tCO2e directly and 700,000 tCO2e indirectly, (b) reduce harmful chemicals by 10,530 tons directly and 21,060 tons indirectly, and (c) cut POP emissions by 12 g Toxic Equivalent (TEQ) and increase area of landscapes under improved management to benefit biodiversity by 2.128 million ha (by reducing 1277 tons of pesticide use). Benefiting the workforce, especially women, the project will directly impact 40,000 people (60% women) and indirectly benefit 80,000 people (60% women) over six years.