Research And Demonstration Of Carbon Footprint And Water Footprint Of Textiles And Clothing

Global climate change, water resource scarcity and pollution are three serious challenges confronted by human beings. Carbon footprint (CF) and water footprint (WF) theories are gaining more and more concern in environmental fields to support approaching those challenges. Textiles and clothing are necessities for human beings. Textile industry is a pillar industriy in China’s national economy. It also is a livelihood industry and has significant advantages in the international market. However, China’s textile industry is being confronted with an arduous task of energy saving, water saving and wastes (CO2, waste water, ect.) emissions reduction. Carrying out researches of CF and WF in textile research fields has theoretical and practical significance as it not only broadens the research area of CF and WF, but also serves as important references for policies issuing to promote energy saving, water saving and wastes (CO2, waste water, ect.) emissions reduction in China’s textile industry.This thesis focuses on the CF and WF of China’s textile industry, accounting and assessing of textiles’industrial carbon footprint (ICF), industrial water footprint (IWF), consumptive carbon footprint (CCF) and consumptive water footprint (CWF). Based on CF and WF theories, CF and WF of textiles and clothing are systematically researched and demonstrated in industry, product and consumption layer.The innovations of the thesis are:(1) the CF and WF of textiles and clothing are systematically researched in industry, product and consumption layer for the first time. The status of CF and WF of China’s textile industry is clearly demonstrated;(2) the concepts of ICF and IWF are proposed for the first time. The methodologies of ICF and IWF are established;(3) the technical specifications for the accounting of ICF and IWF are established. These specifications make it possible to monitor, report and verify the CO2emissions, water consumption and waste water discharge during the industrial production of textiles and clothing;(4) the accounting methods of CCF and CWF of clothing are established for the first time. With these methods, CCF and CWF of different consumption pattern of clothing can be accounted and assessed easily.In the industrial layer, the CF, WF and related indexes of China’s textile industry are calculated with historical statistical data. Then, influencing factors of the CF and WF are analyzed with decomposition analysis method. The relationships between CF, WF and economic development are investigated with EKC (environmental Kuznets curve) theory and decoupling theory. The quantities of CF and WF embedded in China’s international trade of textiles and clothing are also calculated with10(Input-Output) method.The macroscopical research indicates that the CF and WF of China’s textile industry shows an increasing trend during the research period. For related indexes, CF intensity and WF’intensity are decreasing while carbon productivity (CP) and water productivity (WP) are increasing. Industry scale is the most important pull factor for the increasing of CF and WF. Contrarily, technology level and insutry structure are inhibited factores and technology level is the most import inhibited factor. The impacts of pull factor are larger than inhibited factores. There is an N-shaped relationship between CF and economic development of China’s textiles industry and the risk of recombination of CF and economic development still exist. WF of China’s textile industry is decoupled with economic development. Other countries transfer2.13Gt CO2(from2002to2011) and124.52Gt grey water (from2001to2010) to China and grab38.36Gt freshwater resource from China (from2001to2010) through the international trade of textiles and clothing.In the product layer, concept of ICF and IWF are established. Key points of ICF and IWF accounting and assessing, such as boundary, principle, process, data, method, ect. are discuccessed. Specifications for ICF and IWF accounting and assessing are established. ICFs and IWFs of thirteen kinds of textiles product (include yarns, fabrics and apparels) are calculated and demonstrated.According to the demonstrations of textiles’ ICF and IWF accounting and assessing, ICF and IWF methodologies fit the characteristics of textile industry and they are flexible and easy to implement. The coincident of boundary and quality criteria is the common premise for the assessing of accounting results. The coincident of standards and natural concentration of water pollutants must be consider when assessing textils’ IWF. The accuracy of the accounting results will be improved when select reasonable principle for communal data allocation. Two principles, volume allocation and value allocation, can be chosed based on the types of texitles.In the consumption layer, the calculation methods of CCF and CWF are established. With the established methods, Chinese annual per capita CCF and CWF are calculated. The relationship between textiles and clothing consumption and textile industry’s CF and WF are analyzed with EKC method. Factors that affect CCF and CWF are investigated. CCF and CWF of three different consumption(i.e., necessary, developmental and luxurious) models are also demonstrated. The calculation and demonstration of CCF and CWF indicate that consumption quantity and care model of textiels and clothing are factors affect CCF and CWF. Embedded CCF and CWF occupy larger proportion (e.g., all surpass70percent in the demonstrated year2010) of the Chinese annual per carpita CCF and CWF. Chinese consumption model of textiles and clothing is necessity model. Consumption of textiles and clothing has promotion effect on the increasing of CF and WF of China’s textile industry and the promotion effect of domestic demand is larger and larger. The largest CCFD (direct consumptive carbon footprint) of luxurious model is about14.9times as the smallest CCFD of necessary model and6.2times as the smallest CCFD of developmental model. The largest C WFD.biue (direct consumptive blue water footprint) of luxurious model is about5.3times as the smallest CWFDbiue of developmental model and6.5times as the smallest CWFD.blue of necessary model. Rational consumption and select reasonable care model of textiles and clothing are import for the decreasing of CCF and CWF, and they futher promote the decreasing of textile industry’s CF and WF.