Source: European Parliament
The Commission acknowledges the importance of the textile sector, including the fashion industry, for the European economy, culture and creativity.
At the same time, textile production and consumption have major effects on the environment and on climate change, as underlined in the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles[1] and the European Environment Agency report[2]. The EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles proposed an agenda to support the sector’s shift towards the green transition.
Reducing environmental and climate impacts from textiles is essential to achieve a sustainable transition and to meet the climate targets set under the EU ‘Fit for 55’ legislative package.
The Commission recognises the importance of mobilising investments and supporting operators in adopting circular business models and processes .
In this respect, the Commission has put forward a proposal for a co-programmed European Partnership ‘Textiles of the Future’[3] under Horizon Europe[4] under the second Horizon Europe Strategic Plan 2025- 2027[5].
In the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework and NextGenerationEU, EUR 658 billion is allocated to spending for climate-relevant objectives.
In most of the EU funding programmes (including Recovery and Resilience Facility[6], the InvestEU programme[7], Cohesion Funds[8], or Horizon Europe[9]) investments on decarbonisation are eligible for all sectors including fashion.
In addition, textile companies, and in particular small and medium-sized enterprises[10], can be supported through the Enterprise Europe Network[11], the Eurocluster initiative[12], the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform[13], and through the Transition Pathway for the Textiles Ecosystem[14].
- [1] COM(2022) 141 final, https://environment.ec.europa.eu/publications/textiles-strategy_en
- [2] EEA (2022), https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/textiles-and-the-environment-the
- [3] Innovative actions such as small scale demonstration, piloting of new technologies and innovative business models for competitive manufacturing of sustainable textile products may be funded under the partnership.
- [4] https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-programmes-and-open-calls/horizon-europe_en
- [5] https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-programmes-and-open-calls/horizon-europe/strategic-plan_en
- [6] https://commission.europa.eu/business-economy-euro/economic-recovery/recovery-and-resilience-facility_en
- [7] https://investeu.europa.eu/investeu-programme_en
- [8] https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/funding/cohesion-fund_en
- [9] https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-programmes-and-open-calls/horizon-europe_en
- [10] Small and medium-sized enterprises represent more than 99% of the companies active in the EU textile sector (Eurostat).
- [11] https://een.ec.europa.eu/
- [12] https://www.clustercollaboration.eu/euroclusters
- [13] https://circulareconomy.europa.eu/platform/en
- [14] https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/sectors/textiles-ecosystem/textiles-transition-pathway_en