Fristads’ climate impact lower than previously believed

The Swedish workwear manufacturer Fristads has refined their methods for measuring and reporting greenhouse gas emissions, using actual data from the production rather than industry averages and estimates. The new data shows that the climate impact of Fristads’ production is 31 percent lower than previously believed.

The textile industry is very diverse, encompassing everything from workwear manufacturers to fast fashion companies. Still, they are often lumped together when analysts calculate climate data. While using industry averages and estimates for climate calculations can be a good starting point when no other data is available, the accuracy of the results may be limited. When Fristads started collecting actual environmental data directly from their suppliers, as a part of their development of an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) for clothing, their understanding of the impact of the production improved significantly. For the base year 2022, the new methodology showed that emissions were 31 percent lower than previously thought.

“This really demonstrates that it’s crucial to base your climate calculations on actual data. Thanks to our development of the EPD for clothing, we now have the right data in the right place, which gives us a much better grasp on the emissions that occur in our supply chains,” said Lisa Rosengren, Head of R & D Raw Material at Fristads.

Reduced emissions per product
An EPD is a third-party verified life cycle assessment of a product that shows the total environmental impact, from the design of the garment to the delivery to Fristads’ warehouse. Since Fristads introduced their first collection of garments with EPDs in 2019, they have gradually increased the number of environmentally declared products. Today, the company offers products with EPDs in most major product categories. Additionally, the company is systematically working on replacing conventionally produced materials in their products with more sustainable alternatives. These efforts contributed to reducing Fristads emissions per produced product from 7.39 kg in 2022 to 6.09 kg in 2023, a decrease of 18 percent.

“At Fristads, we aim to lead the industry on sustainability and all our departments are engaged in the work to minimise the environmental impact of our products. We can now see that this work is starting to pay off,” said Anne Nilsson, Director of Marketing and Sustainability at Fristads.

Scope 3 emissions down by 47 percent
Fristads has an absolute target of reducing its emissions of greenhouse gases by 50 percent by 2030, compared with the base year 2022*. In Fristads’ newly released Sustainability Report for 2023, the emissions in Scope 1 and 2 decreased by 5 percent compared with 2022, while the emissions in Scope 3 decreased by 47 percent. Since 97 percent of the company’s emissions occur in Scope 3 – purchased goods and services – that is where Fristads is focusing most of their sustainability work.

“We go to great lengths to develop long-term business relationships with our suppliers, to ensure that they understand and meet our standards when it comes to social and environmental sustainability. To reduce our emissions going forward we will support our suppliers’ efforts to transition to renewable energy sources, optimise production processes and reduce energy consumption,” said Petra Öberg Gustafsson, Managing Director of Fristads.

Read the full report here.

* In 2023, Fristads’ owner Hultafors Group joined the Science Based Targets initiative, which required Fristads to change their base year to 2022. Previously, they used base year 2018 for Scope 1 and 2 and base year 2019 for Scope 3.