Based on an exhaustive content analysis of 37 global reports, this paper examines how well links between education and other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are represented in flagship publications of the United Nations system. Taken together, the reports identify links between education and all the SDGs, with the notable exception of SDG 14 on oceans. However, some goal areas have received much more attention than others. While some causal links are identified and highlighted as important, relevant constraints are sometimes not extensively discussed, and few concrete policy options to act on these links are provided. Going forward, it would be important to assess whether the messages contained in UN flagship reports adequately reflect the state of scientific knowledge and the lessons learnt from development programs that focus on education in relation to specific SDGs. The systematic analysis provided here can offer a basis for an integrated analysis of policy priorities for education as a whole.

Following food, mobility, and household-energy use, the consumption of textiles and fashion in Europe has been identified as the fourth highest environmental pressure category in terms of use of primary resources. Slow fashion advocates argue that it is necessary to reevaluate our relationship with clothes and to reduce overall fashion consumption in affluent countries. This article examines a relatively new practice of voluntary reduction of apparel consumption through the lens of three popular online minimalist fashion challenges that encourage participants to use a limited number of clothes, shoes, and accessories over a certain period. It explores how the initiators of the challenges frame the reasons that lead to downsizing, the benefits from undertaking the challenge and the idea of "good life" as the result of living with less. The findings indicate that rationales for voluntary reduction of apparel consumption are more focused on individual wellbeing than on altruistic concerns. The analysis also suggests that in defining an upper limit in apparel consumption (how many garments a wardrobe should contain), numerical indicators serve as a benchmark rather than a goal.

No abstract

No abstract

Two-thirds of global industrial greenhouse gas emissions over the past two centuries can be traced to the activities of a handful of companies ('carbon majors'). Based on their direct contribution to climate change in terms of carbon emissions and on a number of morally relevant facts, this article proposes a normative framework to establish the responsibilities that carbon majors have in relation to climate change. Then, the analysis articulates these responsibilities in the form of two duties: a duty of decarbonisation and a duty of reparation. The duty of decarbonisation entails a large-scale transformation that carbon majors ought to undergo in order to reduce and eventually eliminate carbon emissions from their entire business model. The duty of reparation implies rectification through disgorgement of funds for the wrongful actions of carbon majors, which resulted in negative climate impacts, starting from the most socially vulnerable groups affected by climate change. Finally, the article indicates possible practical implications of these duties.

No abstract

Unsustainable clothing consumption patterns, especially prevalent in the Global North, have come to the spotlight of media, policy-makers and the academic community in recent years. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the routine lives of citizens globally, which has impacted some consumers’ attitudes towards fashion and consumption practices. This study employs terror management theory and voluntary simplicity to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on consumers’ attitudes towards clothing consumption across six different countries, from the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Europe and North America. A structured qualitative study with closed, open-ended and multiple-choice questions was completed by a sample of consumers (N = 3748) across these countries. Among all participants of this study one-third reported that the pandemic had affected their attitude towards clothing and this study was mainly conducted to investigate the nature of those attitude changes. Qualitative analysis identified patterns of change in consumers’ attitude towards clothing (e.g., minimalism, grateful mindset, conscious mindset, decreased fashion desire, longevity and style confidence), which reveal potential for a lasting shift towards more sustainable consumption patterns. The results of this study highlight valuable managerial implications: the industry needs to respond to this shift in consumers’ attitude and move towards more sustainable business models and processes. Sufficiency-oriented business offerings, in particular, are becoming more accepted in the fashion industry. Moreover, these results are relevant for predicting future consumption patterns, especially considering that pandemics may become a more regular part of life.

Social media has become an indispensable part of the daily lives of billions of people globally and, among its many functions, provides online space for conversations about socially important topics. Sustainability dimensions of the fashion system is a growing area of public interest, both in terms of production and consumption practices. This study explores online conversations about sustainable fashion on Instagram and maps the ongoing discourse in terms of actors, themes and views of social change that is required to achieve more sustainability in the fashion system. Instagram is a photo-sharing app owned by Facebook and a social media network of choice of the Millennial and Gen Z women, who are also main consumers of fast fashion, which makes it the perfect source of data for discourse analysis. Using the CrowdTangle tool, the 500 most influential Instagram posts that contained references to sustainable fashion from March 2020 to February 2021 were analysed. The analysis revealed that Instagram discourse on sustainable fashion is dominated by product-promoting messages from brands that communicate directly using their accounts or via collaborations with influencers. While the discourse is polycentric and there are many actors behind the most influential posts, the most numerous communications are from two brands: H&M (@hm) and Reliance Polyester (@r.elan.official). In terms of discussions about social change, these conversations were present almost exclusively in non-sponsored posts of influencers, media, industry associations and non-profit organizations. Social change is discussed in relation to the production side of the fashion system, including nuanced reflections on the role of systemic racism and poverty in fashion supply chains, moving towards local production and using new business models to scale down. However, the main emphasis in references to social change is on consumers’ actions and choices rather than on systemic change: buying less and refusing fast fashion, switching to second hand and using garments for longer.