Ending Greenwashing: How a Dozen Shoe Brands Rally to Bring Carbon Transparency to the Footwear Industry.

jakob-owens-JzJSybPFb3s-unsplash.jpg

Driven by climate conscious consumers, more and more footwear brands communicate their commitments to take care of the planet. In 2019, 24.3 billion pairs of shoes have been produced globally releasing 700 million tons of equivalent CO2 into the atmosphere, the equivalent of a country like Germany. 

Emissions for a pair of shoes ranges from 10 to 30kg of equivalent CO2. Those emissions come from two main sources:

  • Raw materials derived from petroleum (Nylon, Polyurethane..) that are carbon intensive;

  • The carbon intensity of the electric grid of the manufacturing country. 


For instance, a pair of Nylon shoes made in China has a carbon footprint 4 times higher than one made of vegan leather in Portugal. Unfortunately, that information is not easily accessible and consumers cannot make an informed decision nor compare brands on that criteria. 

To bring better carbon transparency to the footwear industry, a group of brands are publishing for the first time the carbon footprint of all their products on the open data platform Carbonfact. 

A dozen shoe brands from all over the world joined carbonfact


12 brands from all over the world already joined Carbonfact since its launch just a week ago. By publishing product-level carbon footprint, they advocate for more carbon transparency in the footwear industry:

Carbonfact shoe brands

Other brands are joining the movement and will soon be published on the platform. These brands are paving the way for low carbon shoes through innovative materials (fruit-based leather, components made out of sugar cane, …), sourcing from local suppliers, preferring truck or sea transportation and setting up recycling programs for their customers.

“This is the first time in history that carbon footprint of products from different brands are compared. The objective of Carbonfact is to help climate conscious consumers make informed decisions regarding the carbon footprint of the products they buy.”

Marc Laurent, cofounder of Carbonfact


Carbonfact: an open platform for better carbon transparency

Carbonfact models leverage state of the art scientific research on Life Cycle Analysis (LCA). Those models are open source and transparent. Methodology is available at carbonfact.co/methodology. 

When data is not provided by the manufacturers, Carbonfact bases its estimate on open information such as sustainability reports or product page details. The output is then usable by the Carbonfact community.

Ethical Fashion