Cir(012) 2023                                                                     February 01, 2023

 

Committee: 

  

Dear Sirs/Madam, 

 

Sub: Half-day Workshop on EU Regulations and its Impact on Indian Textile Producers – Presentations – reg.

 

CITI in association with Innovation Centre Denmark (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Denmark), Lifestyle and Design Cluster Denmark, and Confederation of Danish Industries had organized a Half-day Workshop on the proposed EU Regulations on Textiles and their Impact on Indian Textile Producers on January 20, 2022 at 01:00 PM.

 

The Workshop stressed on the need for the Indian textile and clothing industry to adopt sustainability, circularity and re-useability in its products and manufacturing processes to overcome the environmental challenges posed by the global textile industry. It was pointed out that the global textiles production almost doubled between 2000 and 2015 and the consumption of clothing and footwear is expected to increase by 63% by 2030, from 62 million tonnes to 102 million tonnes in 2030 thus, exerting huge pressure on climate, water & energy consumption and on the environment as a whole.

 

Shri T. Rajkumar, Chairman, CITI, in his welcome address, appreciated the fact that the EU Regulations will help the Indian textile industry overcome sustainability issues to a great extent. He stated that the EU is the 2^nd largest export market for India, especially Apparel and Made-ups, exporting around US$ 7 bn of textile products which accounts for about 17% of India’s total T&A exports to the world. He pointed out that the various global initiatives like upcoming EU Legislation, and initiatives for developing Best Available Technology (BAT) – a reference document in line with the EU BAT – and UNIDO initiatives on Green Technology, highlight the growing relevance of steering technological innovation in this area. The upcoming EU legislation will not only impact India but is also expected to bring several positive changes in the global supply chain. Hence, there is an urgent need for Indian textile and clothing industry to strengthen its sustainability efforts so as to stand on equal footing with the EU as compared to other developed countries.

 

Mr. Eske Bo Rosenberg, Consul General of Denmark to India and Head of Trade and Innovation stated that the Green Textile initiative is inspired by the unique Indo-Danish Green Strategic Partnership – a political framework binding the two countries in a close partnership and pursuit of a greener, more sustainable future. The initiative aims at supporting a green transition of the global textile supply chain, and is a great example of a tangible partnership, where key ingredients such as research, innovation and tech transfer, contributes to the goal of the Green Strategic Partnership.”

 

Ms. Anandita Prakash, Innovation Centre Denmark, Head of Emerging Technologies made a presentation on “Green Textile Project” that aims to create sustainable and circular impact in the Indo-Danish textile value chain. She elaborated that the ongoing project will provide an overview and mapping of the Indo-Danish fashion and textile industry, with a focus on circularity.

 

Mr. Kim Hjerrild, Head (Circular Economy), Lifestyle & Design Cluster Denmark, made a detailed presentation on “The EU Strategy on Textiles” highlighting various requirements of the proposed EU Framework Green Deal and how Danish Industries have progressed so far. He also gave an overview of the key initiatives impacting textiles in the near future.

 

Ms. Marie Busck, Head of CSR & Sustainability, Danish Association of Fashion & Textiles shared EU’s vision of the Textile Strategy for 2030 where all the textile products will be durable, repairable & recyclable; made of recyclable fibres, free from hazardous chemicals, producers taking responsibilities of their products along the value chain, even when they become a waste, etc. She pointed out that the circular textile ecosystem will be driven by sufficient capacities for innovative fibre-to-fibre recycling and incineration and landfill should be reduced to a minimum.  

 

The stakeholders raised several issues/ concerns with regard to the proposed EU Regulations on Sustainability, Circularity and Recycling, especially with regard to the capacity of the SMEs to adopt the changes in the short time that has been proposed for implementation of these regulations.

 

We are attaching soft copies of the Presentations made during the Workshop for your reference.

 

This is for your information.

 

Thanking you,

 

Yours faithfully,

 

 

(Chandrima Chatterjee)

Secretary General