Securing Wool’s Future: Advancing Sustainability Metrics in a Regenerative World
This month, we’re featuring insights from Kim Klassen, a sustainability consultant based in British Columbia with a background spanning forestry, energy, and AgTech. Through her work with First Nations communities and regenerative land use projects, Kim offers a systems-thinking perspective on the challenges and opportunities for wool in Canada’s sustainability landscape.
When we talk about wool and sustainability, it’s worth remembering that humans have been growing and using wool for thousands of years. It’s a natural, renewable resource that biodegrades without leaving a trace on the planet. Yet today, the wool industry has seen a sharp decline, dropping by 40% since 1990, largely due to the ease of manufacturing synthetic fibres, the rise of performance wear, and more recently, the dominance of fast fashion brands.
As a sustainability consultant who recently reignited my lifelong passion for wool at the International Wool Textile Organization’s (IWTO) 94th Congress in Lille, France this past May, I can confidently say the global wool community is a remarkable group working tirelessly to revive this industry.
Through sustainable sheep farming practices, we not only store carbon in the soil, but we can also enhance biodiversity, improve soil health, and regenerate farmland for future generations.
Despite wool currently representing just 1% of global textiles, we’re at a pivotal moment. We face the potential loss of a material that not only outperforms others in wearability but also contributes to environmental restoration in ways synthetics never can. Through sustainable sheep farming practices, we not only store carbon in the soil, but we can also enhance biodiversity, improve soil health, and regenerate farmland for future generations.
To secure wool’s future, we need to address both the metrics used to measure its environmental impact and the broader challenges facing the industry. The reasons for wool’s decline are many. Across the lifecycle, they include rising land prices, decreasing wool prices compared to production costs, the overwhelming number of sustainability labels and certifications growers and brands must navigate, and shifting consumer preferences due to lack of education.
On top of that, the way we account for carbon emissions from sheep often paints an incomplete picture. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodologies used by governments and private companies, for example, tend to favour synthetics like polyester because they score better on metrics like water usage and land impact. However, synthetics bring their own environmental challenges, including microplastic pollution and reliance on fossil fuels, inconsistent with the climate targets set by countries and companies worldwide.
Updating how emissions are calculated across the wool supply chain through LCAs could highlight important impact metrics that are currently left unreported. Current methodologies often fail to distinguish between biogenic emissions, which are natural, short-term cycles, and fossil emissions, which are long-term and non-renewable. This creates an uneven playing field for wool, a fibre that operates within a regenerative system. If LCAs evolved to include dynamic carbon accounting, system-level benefits (like improved soil health and biodiversity), and a full lifecycle perspective, wool’s durability and biodegradability would propel it to levels that synthetics simply can’t replicate.
If LCAs evolved to include dynamic carbon accounting, system-level benefits, and a full lifecycle perspective, wool’s durability and biodegradability would propel it to levels that synthetics simply can’t replicate.
There are promising developments, though. Many soil and grazing methodologies now use remote sensing combined with in-field sampling, offering a more accurate picture of carbon sequestration and land health. Some frameworks, like the Emission Reduction Fund in Australia, incorporate improved land management, soil carbon, and methane reduction into emissions calculations. To be counted as an emission reduction, initiatives must provide benefits beyond business as usual (BAU) and must not be replaced by harmful operations elsewhere. Other emission reduction methodologies like rotational grazing and silvopastures, where trees are grown in pastures to also provide shade for sheep, can be implemented to lower on-farm emissions and could be considered in updated LCA frameworks.
The ISO 14067 standard, published in 2018, does take into account rotational grazing and biogenic emissions removals from photosynthesis, allowing for a more comprehensive view of full farm emissions. However, years of inventory data compiled by IWTO and used by ratings schemes unfairly position wool as a less sustainable fibre compared to synthetics. As Dr. Paul Swan, one of the top voices in wool sustainability, aptly put it at the 94th IWTO Congress: “You have to reflect the true complexity of biology. Nature is incredibly efficient and eloquent in how it recycles.” This difference in accounting can mean a significant change in results. For example, 1.7 kg of biogenic CO2e per kg of raw wool versus 22.3 kg under older methods.
Textile companies and brands play a crucial role in supporting the natural fibre industries through consumer education. Empowering consumers with knowledge about how wool outperforms synthetics—not just in wearability, but also in long-term performance—is one way industry stakeholders are working together to move the needle. From merino wool activewear pioneers like Icebreaker to Vancouver-based Nature’s Carpet, brands across sectors are helping shift perceptions.
This collaboration also presents an opportunity for companies to reduce emissions by investing in sustainable practices such as regenerative agriculture and carbon sequestration within their own supply chains. These efforts can drive meaningful change in growing practices, making it economically viable for producers to thrive—while expanding wool’s share of the global textile market beyond its current 1%. It’s also a smart business move, as the majority of emissions for most brands come from their supply chains.
Wool’s story is one of resilience and renewal, and I believe its future can be just as inspiring as its past. With the dedication of the global wool community, I’m hopeful that wool can reclaim its place as a dominant, sustainable fibre in the global textile market to benefit both people and the planet for generations to come.