Bangladesh is a climate test case for the future of fashion

Lisa Domoney is the senior director of strategic growth at Cascale (formerly the Sustainable Apparel Coalition) and was the former director of responsible sourcing for Walmart and Asda, and served on the board of the Bangladesh Accord.

As the climate clock ticks, the global fashion industry faces a critical question: Can sustainability and economic growth truly go hand in hand? The answer may lie in an unexpected place — not Paris or New York, but Dhaka.

Bangladesh, now the world’s second-largest apparel exporter, is quietly becoming a proving ground for whether the fashion industry can decarbonize at speed and scale. With more than 4,000 factories employing over 3 million workers — most of them women — the country’s ready-made garments sector is not only an economic engine but a bellwether for climate-smart industrial development.

This is no small challenge. The pressure on Bangladesh’s apparel sector is immense. Factories must meet shifting trade rules, fluctuating tariffs and mounting scrutiny on human rights and environmental practices. At the same time, they are expected to maintain the three unspoken rules of global fashion sourcing: cost, compliance and speed.

Yet, rather than retrench, Bangladesh is stepping forward.

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association has outlined ambitious sustainability goals, including a 30% reduction in emissions by 2030. This is not a symbolic target: Bangladesh already leads the world in green garment manufacturing, with more than 240 Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified factories and hundreds more in the pipeline.

This quiet revolution in sustainable manufacturing should make the global fashion industry sit up and take notice. Because while climate pledges and net-zero targets fill brand and retailer press releases, the reality is that a significant portion of the industry’s greenhouse gas emissions come from supply chains — specifically, in countries like Bangladesh. In 2024 Cascale analyzed data from its Higg Facility Environmental Module (Higg FEM) tool and found that 1,800 factories in nine countries are responsible for over 80% of the measured carbon emissions in the apparel, textile and footwear supply chain. If global climate commitments are to mean anything, they must succeed in countries like Bangladesh.

It is not the periphery; it is the front line.

There is promising momentum. Recent Higg FEM analysis shows that manufacturers are installing energy-efficient boilers, investing in solar rooftops and exploring circular production models.

But the data also reveals where gaps persist, particularly in energy intensity and emissions management at Tier 2, the less-visible level of production where textiles are dyed and finished. These stages are highly carbon-intensive and often lack direct brand engagement. Without targeted support, they risk becoming a bottleneck for sustainability progress.

To truly accelerate decarbonization, Bangladesh needs more than ambition. It needs enabling conditions that include consistent policy frameworks, blended finance models and a shift in brand relationships from transactional to transformational.

This is where global buyers have a crucial role to play. Too often, sustainability efforts in the supply chain are treated as add-ons. They’re aspirational but optional, or worse, cost burdens to be offloaded onto manufacturers already operating on razor-thin margins. That approach is not only ethically questionable, it is also strategically short-sighted. Because it impacts workers and production, climate risk is a clear impact to a company’s bottom line. To succeed, sustainability must be embedded into core business strategies.

Bangladeshi garment workers sew in a factory in Gazipur, Bangladesh, on April 9.   © Reuters

Brands that are serious about achieving their science-based targets must invest where the emissions are. That means cofinancing clean energy transitions, supporting supplier training and incorporating climate criteria into purchasing practices. It also means rewarding innovation rather than simply penalizing noncompliance.

This isn’t the first time a local crisis has tipped the balance to global collaboration. The 2013 Rana Plaza tragedy — a building housing garment factories collapsed and more than 1,000 people died — led to the creation of the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, a legally binding agreement between brands and trade unions aimed at improving safety in the ready-made garment industry, proving that alignment can be successful when there is a common goal.

When it comes to climate, collaborative strategies like Cascale’s Decarbonization Program and the Apparel Impact Institute’s Carbon Leadership Program bring brands and manufacturers together to align on data, targets and technical support. In Bangladesh, initiatives such as the Global Fashion Agenda’s Circular Fashion Partnership and new industry coalitions led by the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association are demonstrating what it looks like for manufacturers to lead on climate action.

Still, the pace must quicken. The fashion industry is behind on every major climate benchmark. The gap between ambition and implementation is growing, not shrinking. If brands cannot support climate progress in Bangladesh — a country that is investing in green infrastructure, training a future-ready workforce and setting measurable goals — then where can they succeed?

The stakes go beyond fashion. Bangladesh is also one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries, facing rising sea levels, heat waves and extreme weather that threaten both lives and livelihoods. For its garment workers, climate resilience is not an abstract concept — it is tied to their jobs, their safety and their futures.

And yet, Bangladesh is showing that climate leadership and competitiveness are not mutually exclusive. The question is whether the global industry is willing to meet this leadership with the investment and policy innovation it demands — and fully account for the human impact.

Because if we fail in Bangladesh, we may fail everywhere. This test will reveal whether the global fashion industry is truly prepared to align its business model with a 1.5 C pathway or simply content to talk about it.

Bangladesh offers a glimpse into a future where economic development and climate responsibility are not at odds. It is demonstrating that low-cost manufacturing can be compatible with green growth, if the right systems are in place. The world must take this signal seriously.

The industry’s current model, built on short-term cost efficiencies, must give way to one that values long-term sustainability, supply chain resilience and shared accountability. That means moving beyond pilot projects and pledges, toward systemic change that recognizes the supplier as a partner, not a subcontractor.

This is a moment of reckoning. Fashion cannot meet its climate goals from headquarters alone. The real work happens in the factories, dye houses and production floors of countries like Bangladesh. And those efforts need to be supported — not just with encouragement, but with capital, collaboration and commitment.

Bangladesh is showing us what’s possible. The question now is whether the rest of the industry will rise to the challenge.

The article appeared in asia.nikkei