All articles tagged with #sustainability
BioFluff, a Paris/New York fashion-tech startup, is making plant-based faux fur as a sustainable alternative to animal pelts, inspired by a 2022 meeting with a bioengineer and a textile recycler, signaling a shift toward field-grown, plant-derived luxury materials.
EU researchers in the Bio.3DGREEN project have created bio-based graphene foams from renewable precursors that are light, highly porous, and capable of absorbing shocks. The goal is a sustainable alternative for damping and lightweight structures in aerospace, automotive, and marine applications, with additive manufacturing in early stages due to processing challenges such as specialized pastes and laser optimization.
Leaked images circulating ahead of BMW’s March 18 reveal purportedly show the production electric 3-series with Vision Neue Klasse styling and the new wheel design. If authentic, the i3 will emphasize sustainability, using recycled materials across the interior and exterior, including PET fabrics and recycled plastics, as it rides on BMW’s Neue Klasse architecture.
An explainer on PFAS in outdoor clothing and the push to PFAS-free options, detailing how traditional PFAS-based membranes (like Gore-Tex) work, why bans are spreading, and practical PFAS-free substitutes (PU membranes, ePE, directional fabrics, and natural fibers such as OPTIM wool and Ventile cotton). The article notes most people don't need PFAS gear, but careful maintenance is required for PFAS-free options; price and durability vary, with PFAS-free gear lasting well with proper care.
Stella McCartney staged her Fall/Winter 2026-27 collection in Paris with live horses featuring prominently, using the runway to foreground her sustainable, animal-friendly design ethos without uttering a word.
A Greenpoint townhouse was gut-renovated into a 4,000-square-foot, four-bedroom, single-family home with a third floor, double-height kitchen, skylights and expansive outdoor spaces. The project adopts Passive House principles—airtight envelope, triple-pane windows, and heat pumps—and rooftop solar that covers about 80% of the home’s energy. Large windows, cedar louvers, and roof decks maximize light and outdoor living, while Brook Landscape created a lush backyard garden. Completed in June 2024 after starting in 2022, the renovation cost about $700 per square foot.
Delta Air Lines exercised options for 34 additional Airbus A321neos, growing the A321neo fleet to 189—the largest in Delta’s history—with deliveries starting in 2029. The high-gauge, fuel-efficient jets support premium cabins and sustainability goals, are powered by Pratt & Whitney GTF engines, and are part of Delta’s broader fleet modernization that includes other widebody orders this year. Delta TechOps will continue in-house maintenance for these engines.
Milano Cortina 2026 delivered record engagement and efficient delivery across 19 days, with about 2,900 athletes, 8 sports/16 disciplines, ski mountaineering making its Olympic debut, and 116 medal events (740 medals) plus eight new events; 13 Olympic records and 1 world record. Ninety-two NOCs (plus AIN) participated, with Benin, Guinea-Bissau and UAE debuting and Brazil and Georgia earning their first Winter Games medals. The Games achieved near gender parity (47% women; 50 events for women) and attracted over 1.3 million tickets and 10+ billion social-media engagements. Sustainability dominated the footprint with extensive reuse of venues, renewable power, low-carbon transport, and ambitious waste and energy targets, while projections point to more than €5 billion in net economic impact and 36,000 new jobs ahead of Paris 2030. The event also showcased a powerful educational and cultural legacy, and now attention shifts to the 2030 Games in the French Alps.
London Fashion Week 2026 kicks off with a bigger, bolder slate as 41 runways and 20 presentations highlight both established houses and rising talents. Highlights include Tolu Coker’s Notting Hill–inspired show with King Charles III front and center, a strong sustainability thread via deadstock fabrics, and comebacks by Temperley London and Joseph, plus standout lines from KSENIASCHNAIDER, Annie Doble, AGRO Studio and Fiorucci, all signaling trends of bold color, tassels and loud luxury.
Gen Z is driving a sardines craze, linking affordable, high-protein meals with wellness aesthetics and savvy marketing to a broader TikTok-driven trend. Nutritionists caution about sodium and additives, but fans see canned fish as a sustainable, global-food-culture moment that echoes traditional coastal cuisines and fits a busy, budget-conscious lifestyle.
EU independent advisers say Europe is unprepared for worsening climate change and must ramp up adaptation investments to protect people and infrastructure from floods, wildfires and heatwaves, noting 45 billion euros in annual damages. They call for cross-border planning for higher warming by 2100, stronger early-warning systems, expanded insurance (potential EU-level reinsurance), and a new EU resilience strategy due later this year.
The article reports that GLP-1 weight‑loss drugs like Ozempic are produced via solid‑phase peptide synthesis using solvents such as dimethylformamide, generating massive toxic‑chemical waste (estimates exceed 123 million pounds annually for semaglutide alone) and affecting over 80 peptide drugs. A Nature Sustainability study from the University of Melbourne proposes a water‑based synthesis approach—using salts and a biodegradable activating method—to enable high‑concentration peptide production in water, potentially reducing environmental impact if scalable, though industrial rollout remains to be seen.
More than 150 countries signed an IPBES assessment warning that GDP-focused growth and other unsustainable economic activity are driving biodiversity loss: about 1 in 8 of the world’s roughly 8 million species are threatened and 75% of Earth’s land has been altered by humans. Markets fail to price biodiversity’s services, so the report calls for broad policy, legal, and regulatory reforms—business action alone isn’t enough—amid shifting EU rules and the US’s withdrawal from IPBES.
UN secretary-general António Guterres calls for transforming the global economy to value environmental health and human wellbeing over GDP, arguing current accounting incentivizes pollution and inequality; a UN panel is developing a dashboard that complements GDP with metrics on sustainability and equity as post‑growth, degrowth and related ideas gain policy traction.
Scientists at Wageningen University & Research unveiled compleximer, a glass-plastic hybrid that combines plastic-like toughness with glass’ moldability. It stays bound via physical charge interactions rather than chemical cross-links, allowing high-temperature shaping and self-healing when heated with a hairdryer. The fossil-based version exists now, but biobased variants are in development to enable easier repair and potential biodegradability, offering a greener alternative to traditional plastics.