Partnership forCleaner Textile

BANGLADESHWATER PaCT

AT A GLANCE

Objective: Bring about systemic, positive

environmental change for the Bangladesh

textile wet processing sector, its workers,

and surrounding communities, and to

contribute to the sector’s long-term

competitiveness.

What: PaCT aims to reduce environmental

and related social impacts that result from

prevailing practices in textile wet

processing, particularly excessive

groundwater extraction and surface water

pollution, as well as energy and chemical

use.

How: Through partnerships with stakehold-

ers at all levels of influence: PaCT works with

textile buyers to help them incorporate

Cleaner Production into their sourcing

guidelines; with textile factories to help

them adopt Cleaner Production, with

national government and other stakeholders

to create a more favorable enabling environ-

ment, and with business, government and

communities in selected textile manufactur-

ing clusters to foster cleaner clusters.

Country | Bangladesh

Sector | Textiles, Cleaner Production, Water Treatment

Beneficiaries | Environment, Communities, Small and Medium

Enterprises

Start/end Dates | January 2013 to December 2016

Donors | Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, IFC,

Solidaridad, Government of Austria

Corporate Sponsors | C&A, H&M, Inditex (Lead Sponsors); G-Star, Kappahl,

Lindex, Primark, Tesco, DuPont (Associate Sponsors)

Technical Partners | Solidaridad (Co-Implementer), Bangladesh Garment

Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA),

TNO, Water Footprint Network.

• The Bangladesh textile industry is the second largest in the world and it is the

highest foreign currency earner for the country, earning $21.5 billion in 2012. It

employs over 4 million workers, of which 80% are women.

• The washing-dyeing finishing (WDF) node of the textile value chain has 1700 units, employs

200,000 workers and has a net value addition of up to 20%. It is also growing at 10% per year.

• The WDF factories are the second biggest polluter in the country, consuming 1,500 billion liters of

groundwater annually and contaminating surface waters through inadequate effluent treatment,

negatively affecting the lives of nearly 12 million people.

• Groundwater levels in the city are falling by about 2 meters per year, and the productivity of new

boreholes has already declined by almost a third between 1970 and 2000. Nonetheless, many

mills use 250 - 300 liters water per kg of fabric, whereas global best practice is around 50 l/kg

or less.

• South Asia Enterprise Development Facility (SEDF), managed by IFC, in partnership with

the UK Government and NORAD, has implemented, with the NGO Solidaridad, a

Resource Efficiency program that has led to significant levels of factory savings.

By adopting cleaner production, 18 pilot factories collectively saved up to

USD 2 million, and 1.3 million cubic meters of water.

CONTEXT

• The Bangladesh Water PaCT:

Partnership for Cleaner Textile

builds on this experience, aims to

introduce Cleaner Production concepts to 500

factories, help 200 factories implement low or

no-cost Cleaner Production, and work with 100 factories to

create bankable Cleaner Production technology investment

plans, and facilitate access to finance for this investment. The

estimated investment volume to be generated is USD 50 million.

• The PaCT partners (donors, corporate sponsors, implementers and technical

partners) share a commitment to bring about systemic, positive environmental

change for the Bangladesh textile wet processing sector, its workers, and surrounding

communities, and to contribute to the sector’s long-term competitiveness.

• To this end, the PaCT partners are collaborating to develop harmonized resource-efficiency

procurement requirements, build factory capacity, technical knowledge, and access to finance

for Cleaner Production investments, and create a platform for community and national dialogue

on sustainable use of water in the textile sector.

RESPONSE

The Partnership for Cleaner Textile links buyers, factories, financial institutions, sector

associations, and local communities and government for coordinated action on water

sustainability. Through PaCT:

• Participating global apparel buyers (C&A, H&M, Inditex, G-Star, KappAhl, Lindex, Primark and Tesco)

develop and apply harmonized decision support guidance to integrate environmental sustainability into

design and sourcing decisions.

• Participating wet processing mills in the buyers’ supply chains receive assistance in implementing and

financing Cleaner Production measures aligned with this guidance. Cleaner Production assessments are

conducted in three phases: awareness building (500 mills), then a first assessment focusing on low- or no-cost

measures (200 mills), and a subsequent “deep dive” assessment through which 100 mills prepare a technology

investment plan to reach even higher levels of savings.

• IFC is in discussion with local Financial Institutions about the development of lending products to support

factories to invest in Cleaner Production.

• The leading industry association, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA),

has partnered with PaCT to establish a Textile Technology Business Center (www.textilepact.org/ttbc) to

support adoption of Cleaner Production measures by sharing technical and financial information.

• A Textile Sustainability Platform is reaching out to national and sector-level stakeholders to

address water sustainability challenges in the sector.

• In partnership with leading factories, PaCT will work with business, government,

and communities in selected Textile Manufacturing Clusters, to develop and

put in practice a vision for Cleaner Clusters, starting in Konabari,

North of Dhaka.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

www.textilepact.org

CONTACTS

IFC Head of Water Advisory South Asia

Bas Mohrmann | bmohrmann@ifc.org

PaCT (Bangladesh)

Mrinal Sircar | msircar@ifc.org

PaCT (The Netherlands)

Marieke Weerdesteijn | Marieke.Weerdesteijn@solidaridad.nl

LEAD CORPORATE SPONSORS

IMPLEMENTERS

IMPLEMENTING PARTNERS

ASSOCIATE CORPORATE SPONSORS

ANCHOR SPONSOR