Phase Out Fossil Fuel Industries For Plant-Based Industries

Issues

Industry

  • Australia needs to phase-out coal mining in order to reduce GHG emissions and meet targets set by IPCC of net-zero by 2035
  • ending of coal mining industries in Australian regions needs transition to new industries for employment and growth
  • highlighted by 15 June 2022 announcement that WA will close 2 coal-fired stations by 2029 – impact on town of Collie which has been coal manufacturing since 1920s

Environmental & Consumer

  • Fashion industry is 2nd largest contributor to landfill globally
  • Decarbonisation of fashion industry is a global must for net zero by 2050.
  • To achieve decarbonisation goals requires both
    • replacement of toxic textiles esp plastics with natural material textiles and
    • end-of-life disposal management to avoid landfill eg recycling
  • It requires integrated holistic effort at all levels of the supply chain – from manufacturers of textiles, to brands who use them for products, to retailers who sell them, to consumers who buy. And by all stakeholders.- Government, industry, investors
  • Australia's contribution to decarbonisation of fashion industry has no framework or policy.
    • no Govt policy or regulation on management of harmful textiles or disposal of products.
    • no Govt policy or regulation on greenwashing claims by industry
    • contribution of brands and retailers through self and through industry associations is not integrated or holistic with no industry codes of conduct eg on management of disposal or representations

Input Solutions For Consideration

Industry Policy

  • Coal-mining industries are largely in regions with large fruit-growing industries and industries utilising fruit eg Collie is in grape-growing areas of WA and related wine industry
  • With phase-out of coal
    • expand existing plant industries in the coal-mining areas to regenerative agriculture; and
    • establish industry of manufacturing textiles being invented which rely on plants/plant-waste for their composition
    • manufacture new innovative textile MIRUM® - first plastic-free plant-based synthetic leather textile which is both sustainable and biodegradable - with Government and investment funding
    • for export and for manufacturing MIRUM® products in Australia eg fashion apparel and accessories, replacing leather or synthetic leather product components eg furniture
  • Significance of plant-based textile MIRUM® was recognised by Andrew Forrest investment group Tattarang: in April 2022, Tattarang invested $26.8 million in US business Natural Fibre Welding which has developed MIRUM®
  • MIRUM® is manufactured only in US where it is scaling production but management is working on a model for factories in countries outside US

Environmental and Consumer

  • Develop policy for regulation of harmful textiles and imposing obligations on fashion industry participants esp large retail brands. Pending legislative overseas examples are New York’s Fashion Sustainability and Social Accountability Act (introduced January 2022) and the EU Strategy For Sustainable and Circular Textiles (April 2022)
  • Overseas regulation could see introduction of prohibition on manufacture and import of textiles and products containing harmful chemicals. Traditional polyurethane (PU) - which is synthetic leather most commonly used for all products in all industries and which innovative textiles like MIRUM® have objective of eradicating. Similar approach in Australian environmental legislation could facilitate introduction of healthy sustainable plant-based synthetic leather manufacturing industry for coal transition
  • Australia’s ACCC Act contains prohibitions on misleading and deceptive conduct which would merit analysis to ensure they catch all greenwashing conduct or specific consumer legislation valuable – esp re specificity of labelling.

Summation

It is submitted that transition of coal production to manufacturing plant-based synthetic textiles has viability for policy development because:

  • existing basis for the manufacturing industry in the coal-producing regions ie plants
  • the invention and scaling of the new sustainable and biodegradable textile MIRUM®
  • the objective of the MIRUM® business to replicate the manufacturing in countries outside the US
  • it augurs well for industry investment given current Australian investment in MIRUM®

Further, that as part of the transition, the introduction of environmental legislation pertaining to textiles and chemicals and sustainability & necessary consumer protection legislation:

  • would facilitate the growth of the new industry
  • be a major contribution by Australia to global decarbonisation of the fashion industry
  • establish Australia’s leadership credentials in driving to meet IPCC goals of net zero by 2050.