The Sustainability Pledge for Environmentally Safe and Socially Responsible Garment and Footwear Sector

In July 2021 HEJSupport submitted The Sustainability Pledge and joined many other organizations united for greater traceability, transparency, and circularity in the garment and footwear sector.

‘The Sustainability Pledge’ for measurable and verifiable sustainability was launched by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) in May 2021. The idea is to develop “a free opensource standard and system to track and trace products through the entire garment and footwear supply chain – from field to factory to shop floor”.

Companies and organizations are encouraged to use the UNECE toolbox to follow the recommendations and implement concrete actions which inter alia include:

(a) Development and application of policies, norms, and standards that support
traceability and transparency along the entire value chain
(b) Implementation of business management systems or instruments for
traceability and transparency
(c) Establishment of supporting fiscal and economic incentives
(d) Provision of support for research and development and the scaling-up of
innovative solutions
(e) Implementation of measures to increase awareness and education
(f) Establishment of participation in multi-stakeholder collaborative initiatives.

Actions could further be submitted to The Sustainability Pledge to let consumers and other stakeholders know about the activities which will help to eliminate the negative social and environmental impact of the garment and footwear sector.