Dr. Catherine Tubb
Senior Investment Analyst Planet Tracker
One area of focus is when plastics become textiles
Created in 2018 to investigate the risk of market failure related to environmental limits, focusing on oceans, food & land use and materials such as textiles and plastics, Planet Tracker aligns capital markets with planetary boundaries. Senior Investment Analyst Dr. Catherine Tubb speaks to Fibre2Fashion about the various reports released by the non-profit, and the new studies planned for the textile industry.
What is the role of Planet Tracker with respect to collecting data for the textile industry? What are the important analytics you have done for the industry till date?
At Planet Tracker, our theory of change is that through a combination of financial analytics and engagement with institutional investors and the broader financial community, Planet Tracker will inform, empower and mobilise the transformative power of capital markets to deliver on sustainable development objectives. As such our focus is to directly link financial and valuation metrics of companies and the textiles industry with environmental risks, to highlight the risks and opportunities to investors. We use financial, industry and environmental data from third-party providers. The financial data comes from company reports, as well as financial databases such as Bloomberg, Factset and Refinitiv. We collect industry data from textiles industry partners such as Open Apparel Registry and Apparel Impact Institute. We also use a third-party external data provider (Evalueserve), to collate and check financial and industry data. We cross reference this with environmental data from sources such as the WRI to create unique analysis and views.
Textile Exchange recently released a report on biodiversity risk. Why do you think a benchmark for biodiversity was needed?
Biodiversity is an important part of the sustainability discussion that hasn’t seen much focus from corporates so far. This report is one of the first steps in bringing this into focus for the industry.
How will the new report by Textiles Exchange help the industry improve their understanding of biodiversity risk?
The Biodiversity Benchmark is an important step forward in helping the textiles and apparel industry to understand and adopt more sustainable practices. We particularly support the increased focus on traceability and transparency through the whole supply chain, and the importance of embedding biodiversity risk into corporate strategies.
What does your own report ‘Threadbare Data’ highlight about embedding biodiversity risk into corporate strategies?
In Threadbare Data, we assessed the environmental disclosure of 293 wet processing companies, specifically how they measure, manage, and report their water, energy and chemicals exposure. We discovered this was not well reported – important as these are companies in the middle of the supply chain, and as such biodiversity risk is not well reported.
Do you think the Science-Based Targets for Nature (SBTN) and the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) are able to guide corporate and investor action and reporting on biodiversity?
It is a start. Understanding the particular biodiversity risks along the textiles supply chain will be important for the industry and as such we believe the textiles industry need to start to focus more on these.
How does your own Textiles Tracker plan to support transition to greater sustainability in the industry?
The majority of the capital markets are focused on the large brands and companies at the retail end of the textiles supply chain. By highlighting environmental risks and opportunities in the more opaque parts of the global textile supply chain we hope to empower and mobilise investors to move capital and have greater stewardship over their investments.
What are the opportunities of transitioning to a zero-carbon, nature positive economy?
In our report, Easy (Un)Pickings we highlighted the financial opportunity for investors to fund the transition of wet processors to more sustainable practices. The report showed an initial investment could return commensurate operational savings in just over 12 months – which is fast. This is just one example; we are working to uncover more.
What are your future plans? What new studies planned for the textile industry?
We have been mainly focusing on wet processing so far but would also like to look at other opaque areas of the supply chain. One area of focus is when plastics become textiles and the industry around this part of the supply chain. In addition, we are writing a report on the importance of traceability and transparency in the sector, not only for sustainability, but as a way for companies to improve operations (and save money). We also publish blogs regularly.
Published on: 30/11/2021
DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.
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