The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has said PaCT II, the second edition of the successful Partnership for Clean Textile, has concluded its first year with seven organisations joining the campaign, along with the long-term partner, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).
PaCT II, IFC's multi-stakeholder partnership to drive sustainability in Bangladesh's textile sector, aims to work with more than 200 factories to adopt state-of-the-art efficiency and cleaner production practices to reduce water, energy, and chemical use across the textile value chain, says a statement.
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, said five textile brands have already come on board in the first year. They are VF Corp, PUMA, Levi Strauss & Co, TESCO, and GAP Inc. Jeanologia and Omera Solar have joined the campaign as technology providers.
Started in January this year, with support from The Netherlands, Denmark and Australia, PaCT II seeks to save 10.9 billion liters of water and 1.3 million megawatt hours of energy every year.
In the process, there will be 241,160 tonnes of green-house gases and 10,000 tonnes of chemical use avoided every year.
The first edition of PaCT, which ran from 2013 to 2017, helped save 21.6 billion liters of water every year, which is the average annual water use for 840,000 people in Bangladesh.
The participating factories also saved 2.5 million megawatt hours of energy each year - equivalent to 5.4 per cent of total national grid output of the country in 2015-16.
IFC Director for Manufacturing, Agribusiness and Services for Asia Rana Karadsheh said: "In Bangladesh, the textile manufacturing sector remains a strategic area of focus for IFC. Our advisory programme, PaCT, has made a significant impact on changing the landscape of the sector through greater awareness of resource efficiency, and better adoption of efficient technologies and manufacturing processes."
"We are working towards creating markets for greener investments," he said at an event organised to present the progress of the programme and discuss innovative business solutions critical for the industry to remain competitive.
Bangladesh is the second largest apparel exporter in the world, next only to China, according to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Apparel exports account for 80 per cent of the country's exports and 12 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP).
"The BGMEA is happy to be a partner of IFC. We are proud to say that Bangladesh not only has the most transparent garment industry, it is also one of the most sustainable garment industries in the world," said BGMEA Director and Managing Director of Bitopi Group Miran Ali.
The event consisted of panel discussions on emerging concepts in the industry such as circular economy and rooftop solar PV opportunities.
Ambassador of the Netherlands to Bangladesh Harry Verweij, Denmark's Ambassador Winnie Estrup Petersen, Australian High Commission's Second Secretary Tania Lozansky, IFC Country Manager for Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal Wendy Werner were also present and spoke.
