Fashioning a nature-positive future: A biodiversity roadmap exploring the Transforming the Fashion Sector with Nature outputs for businesses in the fashion, textile and apparel sector

11 Sept 2023 – Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) in partnership with The Fashion Pact and Conservation International, release a resource roadmap to further the development and implementation of biodiversity strategies across the fashion, textile and apparel sector, framing key outputs from the Transforming the Fashion Sector with Nature project.

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We know that nature is our life support system – human societies and economic activities rely on it. However, biodiversity, the living component of nature, is declining at an unprecedented rate due to human activity. This is concerning for fashion, textile and apparel businesses that are highly dependent on biodiversity for their operations, while also having a significant negative impact on the very resources they depend on. This roadmap aims to help equip these businesses to protect and restore nature by guiding them towards key tools and resources needed to develop and activate biodiversity strategies that are powerful enough to reverse biodiversity losses.

While the roadmap is intended for use primarily by sustainability strategy teams in the fashion, textile and apparel sector, engagement across all internal functions, including marketing, procurement, supply chain, and operations, is essential to ensure nature is truly embedded in decision-making across the organisation. The broader themes are also applicable to businesses operating in any industry at the initial stages of biodiversity strategy scoping and development.

There are five different stages of biodiversity strategy development and implementation highlighted in this roadmap:

Each stage details why an organisation would identify with it, what questions they should be asking, and how resources referenced can help progress their strategy development process. Overall, this roadmap can help businesses develop a deeper understanding of biodiversity, new approaches to planning, mapping and evaluating biodiversity outcomes and nature dependencies, and target setting and reporting against evolving nature-related risks.

This work builds on previous work CISL has published to address impacts of the fashion, textile and apparel sector on nature, including a primer on SBTN for fashion and guidance on developing a corporate biodiversity strategy, as well as our ongoing education partnership with Chanel on broader sustainability themes.

Citing this report

University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL). (2023). Fashioning a nature positive future: A biodiversity roadmap exploring the Transforming the Fashion Sector with Nature outputs for businesses in the fashion, textile and apparel sector. Cambridge, UK: University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.