VF Corporation, a global leader in branded lifestyle apparel, footwear and accessories, has joined IFC’s (International Finance Corporation) Bangladesh Partnership for Cleaner Textile (PaCT) programme alongside 12 other brands to enhance the long-term competitiveness and sustainability of the textile wet processing sector in Bangladesh by reducing excessive groundwater extraction and surface water pollution, energy and chemical use, as per the IFC press release.
Commenting on the collaboration, Mohan Seneviratne, IFC Program Manager for PaCT said, “Current groundwater abstraction rates in Bangladesh are close to their limit and growth projection of US $ 50 billion by 2021 can only be achieved with the development of sustainable water supplies, effluent treatment facilities and resource efficient practices.”
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PaCT will engage with VF Corporation’s supplier factories in three ways – awareness building, basic cleaner production (CP) assessment and in-depth CP assessment which will include factory-level advice on basic CP measures, technical assessment of resource efficient textile processing, facilitating implementation through user groups, strengthening corporate water and energy management systems, and investment facilitation in technologies with significant water sustainability benefits.
The programme has contributed to water and energy savings of 14.4 billion litres and 1.23 million MWh per year, respectively, reduced GHG emission by 188,000 tonnes carbon-di-oxide equivalent per year and resource saving worth US $ 10 million annually in 162 partner factories. Additionally, VF Corporation is also partnering with IFC in the Vietnam Improvement Project (VIP).
“Resource efficiency is a core facet of VF’s Responsible Sourcing programme. Through investments and continuous support from VF, we aim to assist our strategic suppliers in reducing their water, energy, waste, and chemical use, while simultaneously reducing the cost of production,” said Brad van Voorhees, Senior Manager of Environmental Practices and Sustainable Operations, VF.
