greenwashing Archives

Green law, dirty leather: LVMH and deforestation

18 May, 2026 / Leave a Comment

Reading Time: 4 minutes

LVMH-owned Italian leather maker lobbied to weaken EU anti-deforestation law while importing hides linked to forest destruction, NGO says

Greenwashing has become so pervasive that the connection between LVMH and deforestation rarely springs to mind when thinking of the luxury giant. But a new investigation by environmental NGO Global Witness suggests it should. The findings, shared exclusively with POLITICO, reveal fresh links between LVMH’s supply chain and forest destruction in South America. They also raise uncomfortable questions about who really pays the price for luxury leather.

LVMH and deforestation: The Global Witness investigation

Global Witness has uncovered evidence that Nuti Ivo — an Italian tannery group owned by LVMH — imported hides from Paraguay through suppliers allegedly tied to large-scale deforestation in the Gran Chaco forest, one of South America’s most threatened ecosystems.

The timing is critical. The EU’s anti-deforestation regulation (EUDR), approved in 2023, is designed to keep products linked to recently cleared land out of European markets. Beef, cocoa, soy, palm oil, and cattle-related products are all covered. But parts of the leather industry are now lobbying for leather to be excluded from the regulation. Their argument is that leather is only a byproduct of the meat industry and therefore should not be considered a driver of deforestation.

One of the most vocal advocates in this debate has been Fabrizio Nuti, CEO of Nuti Ivo and president of Italy’s tannery association. During discussions in the European Parliament, Nuti argued that stricter traceability requirements could become impossible for the sector to manage, especially regarding imports from South America.

Traceability gaps and deforestation links

Yet according to Global Witness, companies connected to Nuti Ivo sourced hides from Paraguayan suppliers linked to over 100,000 hectares of deforestation. Including land claimed by Indigenous communities. Trade records show that in 2025 alone, the Nuti Ivo Group imported thousands of tons of leather from Paraguay. Moreover, traceability remains alarmingly thin: the group can track only part of its hides back to individual slaughterhouses, leaving significant blind spots within the supply chain.

LVMH responded by stating that it is committed to ending deforestation across its operations and supply chains by 2025. The group also said it has never lobbied to weaken the EU deforestation regulation. After being confronted with trade data showing imports from Paraguay, the company described the quantities as “very small” and linked them to contracts that predated its acquisition of Nuti Ivo in 2023. LVMH added that discussions were underway to phase out those remaining agreements.

But environmental organisations disagree with attempts to exempt leather from the EUDR. In a joint letter to the European Commission, groups including Human Rights Watch and ClientEarth argued that excluding leather would undermine the logic of the law: if meat from cattle raised on deforested land is banned, they say, the animal’s skin should not be treated as an innocent byproduct.

Source: POLITICO, reporting on an investigation by NGO Global Witness (published April 27, 2026)

From green certifications to greenwashing: a familiar pattern

This is not an isolated case. In This is Greenwashing, when we tried to find sustainable options to print, we realised how tricky the situation is. Specifically, we acknowledged a global scandal of green labels: companies accused or convicted of environmental crimes continued to obtain and trade under “green” certifications.

“Over a 25-year period (1998–2023), at least 347 companies received sustainability certifications despite being publicly accused of illegal logging, deforestation, or fraudulent environmental practices” (ICIJ, Deforestation Inc., 2023).

In our eBook, we explore how sustainability language can sometimes coexist with business practices that tell a very different story. Especially in industries where supply chains are long, fragmented, and difficult to monitor.

📘 Download This is Greenwashing — here

Final thoughts

The luxury industry has long sold itself on an idea of perfection. Flawless products, pristine images, and increasingly, unassailable sustainability pledges. But the case of LVMH and deforestation reveals a less polished reality. One where legal loopholes, opaque supply chains, and quiet lobbying efforts can undermine even the most well-intentioned green laws.

If leather is truly a byproduct, then it inherits the environmental cost of the meat it accompanies — not a free pass. The EUDR exists precisely to close that kind of accounting trick. Exempting leather wouldn’t just weaken the regulation; it would signal that luxury, once again, plays by different rules.

For LVMH, the path forward is clear but not easy. Promises to end deforestation by 2025 mean little if supply chains in 2025 are still tied to Paraguay’s disappearing Gran Chaco. The industry needs less lobbying and more traceability. Fewer claims of “very small” quantities and a full accounting of every hide.

Because in the end, green laws don’t fail in Brussels. They fail in the gap between a CEO’s testimony and a forest on fire. And that gap is where luxury must finally choose a side.

Green law, dirty leather: LVMH and deforestation Read More »

Copernicus Climate Change Service: The European State of the Climate 2025

11 May, 2026 / Leave a Comment

Reading Time: 7 minutes

From heatwaves to near-record ocean temperatures, Europe remains the fastest-warming continent

According to the latest European State of the Climate report (ESOTC 2025), published by Copernicus Climate Change Service and the World Meteorological Organisation, Europe remains the world’s fastest-warming continent.

The report, released on 29 April 2026, documents a year marked by record heatwaves, near-record ocean temperatures, destructive wildfires, shrinking glaciers, and mounting pressure on biodiversity. More than 95% of Europe experienced above-average temperatures in 2025.

Globally, 2025 ranked as the third-warmest year ever recorded, with planetary warming now reaching approximately 1.4°C above pre-industrial levels. If emissions continue at their current pace, the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C threshold could be exceeded before the end of this decade.

Across Europe, the signs of climate change are no longer isolated events but interconnected realities reshaping ecosystems, economies, and daily life.

Copernicus Climate: Europe in 2025

Temperature: Almost the entire continent saw above‑average temperatures. Several northern European countries logged their warmest or second‑warmest year.

Heatwaves: Europe endured its second most-severe heatwave on record; sub‑Arctic Fennoscandia saw its longest.

Wildfires: Record burnt area and fire emissions, led by August fires on the Iberian Peninsula.

Oceans: Highest annual sea surface temperature on record, with 86% of the region experiencing at least “strong” marine heatwave conditions.

Glaciers & snow: Net mass loss across all European glacier regions. Snow cover extent and mass both third lowest on record.

Floods/storms: Strong regional contrasts. Storms and flooding hit some areas, but overall less widespread than in recent years.

Energy: Renewables supplied 46.4% of Europe’s electricity. Solar power set a new contribution record (12.5%).

Copernicus Climate Change Service: line graph showing rising global atmospheric CO₂ and methane concentrations from 2020 to 2025.

Temperature across Europe’s land and seas

According to the Copernicus Climate report, Europe is warming more than twice as fast as the global average — and 2025 brought that into sharp focus. On land, almost the entire continent (at least 95%) saw above-average annual temperatures, with Europe suffering its second most severe heatwave on record. At sea, the picture was equally alarming: the annual sea surface temperature for the European ocean region reached an all-time high, and a record 86% of the region experienced at least “strong” marine heatwave conditions.

Hydrological conditions in 2025

In 2025, much of northwestern to eastern Europe was drier than average, with annual precipitation totals 10–40% below normal. This led to record-low soil moisture in some areas and below-average river flow in 70% of Europe’s rivers. In contrast, southwestern and parts of northeastern Europe saw above-average precipitation, soil moisture, and river flow. These patterns also influenced sunshine, cloud cover, and climate-driven renewable power potential.

The contrasts aligned with prevailing atmospheric circulation. High pressure brought drier, sunnier conditions to northwestern, central, and eastern Europe, while low pressure over the North Atlantic shifted storm tracks further south toward southwestern Europe.

Across the Iberian Peninsula, spring brought above-average rainfall, followed by summer heatwaves. This shift created abundant dried vegetation that fueled large wildfires.

Key messages

Soil moisture: 2025 ranked as one of the three driest years for soil moisture across Europe since 1992. In May, 35% of Europe experienced “extreme” agricultural drought.
Precipitation (northwest/central Europe): 2025 ranked among the ten driest years in 47 years for this region — a sharp contrast to the exceptionally wet conditions of 2023 and 2024.
River flooding: Despite several significant flood events, total flooded extent was the second lowest since 1992 and far smaller than the widespread flooding seen in 2023 and 2024.
Extreme precipitation: The share of Europe’s land area affected by extreme precipitation was below average, notably smaller than in several recent years — especially for the most extreme events.
Wildfire emissions: Annual wildfire emissions reached record highs in Spain (where contrasting hydrological conditions fueled large fires), as well as in Cyprus, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Germany.

Long heatwave in sub-Arctic Fennoscandia

In July 2025, sub-Arctic Fennoscandia experienced its longest and most severe heatwave on record, lasting 21 days from 12 July to 1 August. Temperatures near and within the Arctic Circle reached 30°C.

The region typically sees up to two “strong” heat stress days per year, but in 2025 some areas endured almost two weeks at this level. The combination of dry conditions and high temperatures produced “moderate” to “severe” drought during the heatwave, along with up to two weeks of elevated fire danger.

The heatwave coincided with a marine heatwave in the Norwegian Sea, as well as parts of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.

Cold environments in a warming climate

From the Alps to the Arctic, Europe’s ice and snow cover is shrinking. The area experiencing winter days with freezing temperatures is also declining.

Snow cover: In 2025, end-of-season snow cover extent and mass were the third lowest in the 42-year record. In March alone, the snow-covered area was roughly 1.32 million km² below average — an area equivalent to France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria combined.

Glaciers: European glaciers recorded a net mass loss in 2025, with the most negative balances observed in Iceland.

Greenland: The Greenland Ice Sheet lost approximately 139 gigatonnes (Gt) of ice in 2025, equivalent to about 1.5 times the total ice stored in all European Alpine glaciers.

Climate policy and action: biodiversity

Biodiversity — the variety of life on Earth — is essential for a sustainable future, yet climate change is a major driver of its decline.

Healthy ecosystems provide clean air and water, fertile soils, and pollination, all of which underpin food security, livelihoods, and human health. Biodiversity also helps regulate the climate and buffers against extreme weather events.

Recognising this link, European policy frameworks have increasingly integrated climate and biodiversity. The EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 aims to protect and restore nature. By the end of 2025, approximately half of the Strategy’s recommended actions were either in place or fully completed, with most of the remainder already underway.

Climate’s impact on biodiversity

Marine heatwaves have shifted from occasional to annual events, driving mass mortality, species shifts, and ecosystem disruption. From 2023 to 2025, the entire Mediterranean Sea experienced at least “strong” marine heatwave conditions each year.

Posidonia oceanica seagrass — covering ~19,000 km² of Europe’s coasts — is highly sensitive to heat. Thermal stress has driven a 34% decline in its meadows over 50 years. Yet conservation efforts over the past decade have stabilised some areas, boosting species richness, restoring fish nurseries, and enhancing carbon storage and coastal protection.

Peatland wildfires: Europe has lost more peatland proportionally than any other region. Remaining sites like Deurnsche Peel and Mariapeel (Netherlands) are vital. Dried-out peat ignites easily — in April 2020, a 710-hectare fire burned for four days and smouldered for two months. Such fires kill amphibians, ground-nesting birds, and Sphagnum mosses, degrading habitats. Solutions include green firebreaks, ecological corridors, buffer zones, and native reforestation.

Copernicus Climate: trends in climate indicators

The latest Copernicus Climate data shows a clear pattern: the planet is warming, oceans are absorbing more heat, ice is disappearing, and sea levels are rising. Europe and the Mediterranean are warming significantly faster than the global average.

Rising temperatures (since pre-industrial, 1850–1900)

Global: +1.4°C
Europe: +2.4°C
WMO Region VI (Europe): +2.6°C
Arctic: +3.2°C

Oceans under pressure

Sea surface temperatures since the 1980s:

Global oceans: +0.6°C
Europe: +1.1°C
Mediterranean Sea: +1.4°C

Ocean heat content (upper 2000 m) has risen steadily since 1993.

Sea level rise (1999–2025)

Global: +3.7 mm per year
Europe: +2–4 mm per year

Greenhouse gases (annual increase since 2020)

CO₂: +2.6 ppm
CH₄: +11.6 ppb

Ice loss accelerating

Arctic sea ice (September): -33% since the 1980s
Antarctic sea ice (February): -20%

Ice loss since the 1970s:

Greenland: -5,747 Gt
Antarctica: -4,876 Gt
Global glaciers: -9,580 Gt

These indicators confirm that climate change is not a distant threat — it is an ongoing transformation already reshaping ecosystems, coastlines, and weather patterns worldwide.

Final thoughts

Reading the Copernicus 2025 Climate report (download it here), one might be tempted to highlight the positives. Renewables at 46%. Solar at a record 12.5%. Half of biodiversity actions completed.

Do not be fooled.

As climate scientist Kevin Anderson has long argued, every metric points the wrong way. Global temperature: up. Ocean heat: up. Sea levels: up. Ice loss: accelerating. Europe’s warming rate: twice the global average. The 1.5°C Paris threshold: set to be breached by the end of this decade — a decade earlier than predicted.

This is not progress. This is managed decline dressed up as hope.

Leaders knew the science. They had the tools. They chose delay. Most importantly, they chose fossil fuels. In doing so, they chose their own political timelines over the planet’s physical timelines. That is not a failure of capability. It is a failure of will — and of conscience.

The report does not show that we are on the right track. It shows that we are running off track, and those at the controls have intentionally refused to brake.

Copernicus Climate Change Service: The European State of the Climate 2025 Read More »

Earth Day 2026: what are we celebrating?

27 April, 2026 / Leave a Comment

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Between greenwashing and collapse: listening to what the signals really say

Happy Earth Day 2026? That’s the question we need to ask ourselves.

The UN Environment Programme titled its 22 April newsletter: “Happy Earth Day! Listening to the planet’s signals.” Are we still at this point? Still marking Earth Day this way? Celebrating?

The very next lines of the same newsletter list the signals: rising temperatures, biodiversity loss, pollution, extreme heat. It’s hard to find happiness — or cause for celebration — in that list.

So, happy for what? What are we actually celebrating? The fact that the planet is still here? Or our own inaction?

The net zero scam

Kevin Anderson, a climate scientist, offers a blunt answer: our leaders have chosen to fail on climate change for thirty years. Every single metric is pointing in the wrong direction. Even countries like China, which are doing relatively well in terms of reductions, are still far from where they should be.

“If the problem gets harder every single year,” Anderson says, “I don’t call that progress. Progress is only when you deliver what you have to.” In his view, the widely touted goal of net zero by 2050 is a scam — because until we eliminate fossil fuels and significantly cut agricultural emissions, temperatures will just keep rising. And the climate will just keep changing.

50% chance of AMOC collapse

Meanwhile, in The Guardian, George Monbiot warns that a catastrophic event is already upon us — yet we’re barely hearing about it. He points to the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), the ocean current that delivers heat from the tropics to the North Atlantic. The first study suggesting AMOC could have an “on” and “off” state was published in 1961. For decades, a human-induced collapse was considered a “low-probability, high-impact” event — devastating, but unlikely. That has changed. Recent research now describes it as a “high-probability, high-impact” threat. Last week, Professor Stefan Rahmstorf, a leading expert on the subject, put the chances of a shutdown at over 50%, with the tipping point potentially arriving “in the middle of this century.”

If AMOC collapses, northern Europe could see a massive drop in winter temperatures, and the Amazon’s water cycles could be so disrupted that the rainforest itself might tip into cascading collapse.

Final thoughts

From a 50% chance of AMOC collapse to net zero called a scam — the gap between celebration and reality has never been wider.

Yet there we were, on Earth Day 2026, reading cheerful newsletter subject lines while scientists warned that we’re drifting toward a climate tipping point with better-than-even odds.

This is not progress. Not leadership. And certainly not the future.

Maybe it’s time to stop celebrating — and start listening to the signals the planet is actually sending.
Because there’s nothing to celebrate.

Earth Day 2026: what are we celebrating? Read More »

The normalisation of greenwashing

30 March, 2026 / Leave a Comment

Reading Time: 3 minutes

As sustainability fades from fashion’s agenda, misleading claims fill the void

The normalisation of greenwashing is becoming increasingly visible across fashion — not as a failure of the system, but as a feature of it.

While sustainability appears to be fading from fashion agendas, greenwashing is becoming acceptable.

We came across a Business of Fashion Instagram post that stopped us in our tracks:

“H&M says sustainability is good for business. Can it get shoppers to care?”

The accompanying feature—a sit-down with H&M Group Chief Executive Daniel Ervér and Chief Sustainability Officer Leyla Ertur—explores why the fast fashion giant is “sticking to its long-set sustainability plans” and working on “connecting with customers.”

This piece of news is depressing. Not surprising, perhaps. But depressing.

H&M’s business model is built on overproduction, rapid deliveries, and overconsumption. These are not conditions that can be retrofitted with sustainability plans. Yet there — in the pages of one of fashion’s most respected industry publications — the premise is presented as earnest: Can a fast fashion giant make sustainability matter to shoppers?

Then comes this quote:

“The reality is, it’s hard. To help customers change their behaviour, we have to create real value for them. Otherwise, why should they change?”

Let’s sit with that for a moment.

Shifting the responsibility: the normalisation of greenwashing

In a single statement, H&M absolves itself of responsibility and shifts the burden onto consumers. Not a word about the structural realities of overproduction. Not a question about whether a business model built on volume can ever align with sustainability. Instead: If customers don’t change, that’s on them.

This is the manoeuvre we’ve seen before. Exploit people and the planet through a system engineered to encourage overconsumption, then frame the lack of consumer “will” as the obstacle to progress.

Which raises a more uncomfortable question: Why is The Business of Fashion—a publication that positions itself as the authoritative voice of the industry—willing to take part in this game?

We have our suspicions. Whether or not this was sponsored content, the real question is: what does it say about the state of fashion media when a fast fashion giant’s sustainability messaging is platformed without scrutiny?

Ultimately, the question remains: can a fast fashion brand ever be truly sustainable?

As we explored in our previous post, the answer here is the same. This is greenwashing.
Not because H&M lacks sustainability initiatives, but because sustainability cannot be grafted onto a business model fundamentally at odds with it.

Promoting oneself as sustainable while maintaining that model is not progress—it’s a manipulation of eco-discourse. With the approval of the press.

A final reflection

So here we are, facing the normalisation of greenwashing. Sustainability quietly fades from the scene. Greenwashing becomes acceptable. Safe. Sound. Normal. And perhaps not just acceptable, but the dominant language through which fashion now speaks about responsibility.

P.S.: We wrote an eBook to help you cut through the noise. If you want to understand whether a brand is genuinely sustainable or simply dressing itself in green, it’s here:

This is Greenwashing

The normalisation of greenwashing Read More »

Galliano for Zara: this isn’t a victory — it’s a verdict

23 March, 2026 / Leave a Comment

Reading Time: 5 minutes

A couturier, a fast-fashion giant, and an archive that doesn’t exist

Galliano for Zara. The news landed like a thunderclap in the fashion world: John Galliano, one of the last true couturiers on the scene, has signed a two-year contract with Zara. He will not simply design a collection; he will, in their words, “re-author” the brand’s archive.

On the surface, industry press has framed this as a moment of “fashion democracy”— a thrilling opportunity for the masses to own a fragment of a genius’s vision. But peel back the layers of the press release and something far more unsettling emerges. This is not a celebration of accessibility; it is one of the clearest absurdities of the modern fashion system. A signal of its complete destabilisation.

As we explored in a previous post, the idea of democratic luxury is as contradictory as illiberal democracy: it does not exist. It is either one thing or the other.

What makes this partnership truly fascinating is its jarring incongruity. We are watching John Galliano — a master of bias-cutting and elaborate construction — arrive at Zara’s doorstep. Meanwhile, across the industry, designers who built their reputations on more commercial ready-to-wear lines are now producing couture for heritage houses.

Today, the fashion industry doesn’t care about craft; it only cares about marketing.

Galliano for Zara: the “re-authoring” of nothing

Zara and Galliano describe this project as “re-authoring.” The word is carefully chosen. It sounds intimate, artistic, even sustainable. Galliano has spoken of working physically with garments from past seasons — deconstructing, reconfiguring, transforming. It evokes the atelier: scissors gliding through fabric, a master giving new life to forgotten pieces.

But does Zara really have an archive?

In fashion, the term archive is sacred. It implies a body of original work — pieces that defined eras, garments with a soul and a story, grounded in authorship, memory, and meaning. It suggests a point of view.

So we must ask: what, precisely, is the Zara archive?

Is it a catalogue of items subtly (and not so subtly) lifted from luxury runways as soon as they appear? A repository of trend-driven ephemera designed for a three-week lifecycle at best? Or is it the afterlife of these garments — the toxic mountains of textile waste piling up in Accra, the bleached remnants in the Atacama Desert?

Is the archive, in fact, the sum of garments made in the lowest quality polyester, worn twice, and discarded without ceremony?

To call this churn an archive is not just a marketing stretch. It is an erosion of meaning. An insult to the very concept of design history.

The pile-up we aren’t meant to see

When the strategists behind this campaign at Inditex approved it, did they assume we would ignore the elephant in the room — or rather, the mountains of textile waste?

The dissonance is staggering. Inditex remains one of the highest-emitting fashion companies in the world. Its business model is built on overproduction and planned obsolescence. And now, it seeks to cloak itself in the language of sustainability and high art, inviting a legend to “re-author” the very waste stream it has created.

From a sustainability perspective, “re-authoring” fashion waste only makes sense if the production of new items is significantly reduced. Otherwise, it is simply greenwashing.

This raises an uncomfortable question — not just about them, but about us, consumers.

When we applaud moves like this, when we rush to buy a “re-authored” piece of fast fashion, what exactly are we celebrating? Craft — or the permission to forget?

Brands are betting on our willingness to look away. They are betting that the word archive will blur the reality of the supply chain, and that Galliano’s name will function as a cultural absolution.

But isn’t this simply a case of: This is greenwashing?

From our eBook, This is Greenwashing:

According to the British NGO Earthsight (2024), the fabric used by international giants H&M and Zara to produce their clothes is dirty cotton. The NGO alleges that the two European brands are complicit in large-scale illegal deforestation activities in Brazil, including land grabbing, human rights abuses, corruption, and violent land conflicts. “Earthsight’s year-long investigation reveals that corporations and consumers in Europe and North America are driving this destruction in a new way. Not by what they eat – but what they wear.”

Or consider this excerpt:

Fashion Group Inditex (Zara) has partnered with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Why is a multinational fast fashion corporation partnering with a foundation focused on protecting the animals whose habitats their manufacturing destroys?

On closer inspection, the answer seems less about transformation and more about optics.

And if we widen the lens further, another troubling dimension appears. In October 2022, ahead of the Israeli Knesset elections, Joey Schwebel — who holds the Zara franchise in Israel — hosted a campaign event for Itamar Ben-Gvir. The move sparked calls for a boycott, raising further questions about the political entanglements surrounding the brand.

Final reflections

Ultimately, the news about Galliano for Zara is not really about John Galliano or Zara. It is about an industry that has run out of ideas — and perhaps, out of direction.

The fact that a designer like Galliano, a true couturier, has landed within a fast-fashion system is not a sign of creative evolution. It is a sign that the structures once capable of supporting such talent have eroded. The houses that should be courting his genius are too risk-averse, too driven by quarterly performance, to embrace a complex, demanding artist.

So let’s call this what it is.

Not a meeting of minds.
A merger of convenience.

One side acquires cultural legitimacy—a halo of artistry.
The other secures a paycheck.

And still we are left with a question that no press release can convincingly answer: what does “fast fashion archive” really mean?

Galliano for Zara: this isn’t a victory — it’s a verdict Read More »