Five major apparel production hubs, including Bangladesh, have experienced a 42-percent increase in high heat days over the last two decades, significantly affecting the workers and production.
As climate change pushes temperatures up and the frequency of heat waves is accelerating at an alarming rate, workers in the world's biggest garment manufacturing hubs in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Vietnam and Pakistan are increasingly exposed to extreme heat, according to a study report published Monday.
It says heat stress and flooding have significant impacts on apparel workers and production, from impacts on workers' health, slowing down production processes and shutting down factories, road, rail, and port systems altogether.
Global Labor Institute, part of Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations that tracks the impact of heat and flooding on fashion production hubs and workers, published the study findings.
Tracking historical data in Dhaka, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Phnom Penh and Karachi, the analysis revealed that the number of wet-bulb 'exceedance days' - days on which wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) exceed the moderate stress threshold of 30.5°C - increased by 42 per cent in the period of 2020-24 compared to 2005-09, researchers found.
The 'moderate' stress threshold of 30.5°C WBGT, which measures heat and humidity, is the point in which the International Labor Organization (ILO) recommends garment workers do as much rest as work in an hour to maintain safe core body temperature levels.
Moreover, further analysis shows that for every increase of 1°C above 25WBGT, productivity for moderate effort-level manufacturing work decreases by an average of 1.5 per cent.
Apparel hubs are already feeling the effects of these issues, it said, adding that in April, heat waves in Bangladesh led to schools being shut down and garment workers reporting lower productivity and increased sick days.
According to the report, Bangladesh has seen dramatic and devastating flooding, exacerbating the issues that have cropped up in the wake of their political upheaval.
July saw widespread flooding across the country, and Bangladesh again saw massive, deadly floods in late August.
This round of flooding caused production delays in apparel factories, and garment production was estimated to be down significantly for the year.
The floods also slowed down access to the Chattogram port-the industry's connection to the world-and added stress to supply chains already under pressure, it added.
Jason Judd, Executive Director of Cornell University's Global Labor Institute, said in a statement: "Extreme heat and flooding are health hazards for tens of millions of garment workers and material risks to the fashion industry."
Adaptation investments to protect workers and supply chains are urgently needed alongside decarbonisation efforts, Jason Judd said, adding that adaptation's physical investments must go hand-in-hand with robust social investments.
One without the other won't work, Judd said, citing example, living wages that allow workers and their families to cope with lost work days, the rising costs of electricity bills, food, and climate-related medical bills are essential.
And the industry-from employers to brands to their investors and lenders-needs clear, enforceable climate-labour requirements.
"These are needed for the industry to adapt to climate breakdown and for major brands and retailers to meet their obligations to workers under new CSDDD rules," Jason Judd added.
The nations and workers in this group with the weakest 'entitlement' measures-low purchasing power of manufacturing wages and below average levels of social protection coverage-have high climate vulnerability and low readiness scores: Bangladesh, Myanmar, Pakistan and Cambodia.
Honduras and Nicaragua, with relatively high purchasing power of wages, have high vulnerability and low readiness scores as well as relatively low social protection.
The researchers called for urgent adaptation measures to protect apparel workers and productivity, specifically noting that under new European Due Diligence laws (CSDDD), brands could be liable for the risks and harms that extreme heat and flooding create.
Cornell University's another study published last year warned that extreme heat waves and flooding pose a grave threat to the projected apparel-export earnings of four Asian nations - Bangladesh, Cambodia, Vietnam and Pakistan - with a potential loss of US$ 65 billion by 2030.
It warned that Bangladesh alone may face a US$27 billion worth of export wipeout and 250,000 job losses in its fashion-manufacturing industry.
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