ArticleSAN FRANCISCO, Sep. 10, 2024 – Today, Apparel Impact Institute (Aii) announced the latest round of grants from its Climate Solutions Portfolio (CSP), a registry of science-based, measurable decarbonization solutions for the fashion industry that have been vetted for their effectiveness, reach, and ability to scale. This marks the third deployment of capital for grants from Aii’s Fashion Climate Fund - a $250 million initiative to unlock $2 billion in blended capital to support the implementation of impact solutions across the industry.
Climate Solution Portfolio grants provide essential funding for solutions that often struggle to gain support from brands, facilities, and other sources. Beyond financial support, selected grantees receive independent validation and connections to brands, facilities, and investors within Aii’s network. This round’s grantees - Pozzi, Grant Thornton, and Amphico - address unique supply chain challenges and were selected based on their solutions’ commercial viability, scalability, and measurable GHG reductions.
The recipients are the newest additions to Aii’s CSP registry, which launched in 2023 in tandem with Aii’s CSP online platform, an easy-to-access, central hub funded by philanthropic contributions from Farfetch, H&M Group, Lululemon, The PVH Foundation, Ralph Lauren, and Target. Curated with Aii-vetted programs and technologies, and integrated, essential reporting tools, the platform acts as a public, transparent resource for brands, retailers, manufacturers, and other industry stakeholders. Available CSP solutions range from novel approaches to reducing energy loss to solutions that reduce GHG emissions from generating heat and electricity.
“We’re building a powerful, collaborative ecosystem united in the mission to achieve emissions reductions across the industry,” said Aii’s Chief Impact Officer, Kurt Kipka. “In this round of grants, we’re bridging innovation gaps by supporting leaders who have leading-edge, impactful and practical technologies. Collectively, these solutions have the potential to reduce 24,407 tCO2e within the first 12 months of project implementation.”
In Fall 2024, Aii will make its second biannual call for innovators to apply for funding. This grant cycle will focus on advancing innovations in thermal energy and energy storage solutions. These two areas have been identified by Aii to be lacking in critical data while also holding the greatest potential for progress in the field.
More information on the CSP online platform and previous recipients can be found at https://csp.apparelimpact.org/
Pozzi, established in 1885, has a long-standing tradition in the manufacturing of machines for the textile industry, with a particular emphasis on the wet processing sector. The company is spearheading a feasibility study across 15 facilities to evaluate, demonstrate, and eventually scale low-carbon alternative solution RHeX+HP, a heat recovery system designed to overcome clogging and efficiency loss with traditional heat exchangers. The aim of this grant is to enhance energy recovery through heat pump integration, with the potential to save 20,546 tCO2e within the first 12 months of project implementation.
Grant Thornton is a community of almost 10,000 audit & assurance, tax, and advisory problem solvers, relationship builders, and industry specialists with extensive experience in developing policies and supporting the implementation of climate change mitigation solutions. The awarded grant will enable the piloting and evaluation of innovative approaches within the lubricant industry, focusing on how mineral oil-based products can enhance energy conservation through reduced friction, improved temperature stability, and resistance to oxidation and contaminants. The project has the potential to save 136 tCO2e within the first 12 months of implementation. The insights gained will be used to create a Best Practices/Standard Operating Practices guide aimed at promoting these benefits across the industry.
Amphico comprises a combination of experienced scientists and designers who are passionate about making the future a better place, both in creating less impactful materials for the planet and in the improved performance of the products they facilitate. Their solution combines dope-dyed yarns with optical color-mixing during weaving, where >6000 colors as woven fabrics are created from 6-10 primary-colored yarns. Amphico will use the grant to expand color availability to 10,000 colors at an industrial scale, increasing adoption significantly. This project has the potential to save 3,725 tCO2e within the first 12 months of implementation.
About Apparel Impact Institute (Aii): Apparel Impact Institute (Aii) is a 501(c)(3) global nonprofit collective founded in 2017. The organization is dedicated to identifying, funding, scaling, and measuring the apparel and footwear industry’s proven environmental impact solutions. Aii has built a $250M Fashion Climate Fund to leverage a first-of-its-kind collaborative funding model between philanthropy and corporate entities. It is designed to catalyze climate action by funding and scaling solutions for decarbonization, and marked to unlock a total of $2B in blended capital, to meet the industry’s goal to halve carbon emissions by 2030. Most recently, Aii has updated its widely credited 2021 “Roadmap to Net Zero,” a report and guide calling for the system-wide collaboration needed to reduce GHG emissions in the apparel and footwear industry by 45% at minimum by 2030 and to zero by 2050. To learn more about Aii, please visit: apparelimpact.org.
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