PANGAIA attended COP27, the UN’s annual climate conference, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, where 196 countries gathered to discuss the climate crisis. This is what we took home from the yearly summit.

1. How we can work with nature to create solutions that work to mitigate climate change.

Since inception, we have looked to nature to address the challenges around the myriad of challenges the fashion industry faces as a high impact sector. Now nature is becoming central to conversations happening on the world stage, as brands and companies look to impact management at a raw material level—particularly better practices at a farm level.

We're transitioning our cotton production from organic to regenerative cotton farming methods that aim to restore nature, rehabilitate soil health and train farmers on the ground to help support their livelihoods and create a healthier, more biodiverse environment.

Our aim is to have all virgin cotton grown through regenerative systems by 2026, and our current In Conversion Cotton Capsule is made with soft, breathable and lightweight in-conversion cotton grown using regenerative practices.It is a physical manifestation of our next step towards an Earth-positive production model that gives back more than it takes.

2. Loss and damage—who is going to pay the bill for the damage done by climate change?

Pakistan experienced unprecedented rains that flooded a third of the country in June. This left hundreds of people dead and caused some $30 billion in loss and damage. Developing countries will need $2 trillion per year by 2030 to cope with climate breakdown, a UN-backed report—‘Finance for Climate Action’, warns.

At this time, New Zealand, Austria and Denmark have committed to putting funding forward. The agreement to set up the fund is the first step toward helping Pakistan and other vulnerable nations deal with the repercussions of the global climate catastrophe—but we need a united effort from all countries to combat this global issue.

Following the tragic events in Pakistan, we partnered with Human Appeal, a British international development and relief charity doing vital work around the world to strengthen humanity’s fight against poverty, social injustice and natural disaster.

In Pakistan, Human Appeal has been working to aid people who lost their homes due to the flooding, as well as provide food, medical aid and disaster relief during emergencies, a critical intervention that saves lives.

We raised money through an internal PANGAIA archive sale to fund the building of flood-resistant housing for large families within the affected communities, as well as support these remote communities at their most vulnerable of times with access to vital medicine.

3. What a 1.5 degree Celsius increase means.

What does a 1.5 degree Celsius increase mean? A warmer climate sounds nice for many in the global North, right? But if we think of the planet as a human body, if your body temperature goes up you’re sick, and if you reached a 2 degree increase you are reaching a state of life endangerment if you can’t get it down.

1.5 degrees will still have a significant impact on our world, but there is plenty we can all do to help regulate the temperature of the planet. By absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and releasing oxygen back into the air, tree planting is one of the simplest yet substantial ways of combating the effects of greenhouse gases and creating a cleaner atmosphere for us to live in. With every PANGAIA product purchase we plant, protect or restore a tree through our Tomorrow Tree Fund, powered by Milkywire. Find out more here.