IWTO makes the case for wool at Rome event
The wool sector had a presence at an event organised in Rome by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) at the end of September and start of October.
Called the FAO 2025 Conference on Sustainable Livestock Transformation, the event included a Speakers’ Corner feature, with the International Wool Textile Organisation (IWTO) as one of the participants.
IWTO told the audience that sheep are “fully paid-up members of the circular bioeconomy”, producing 2 billion kilos of biodegradable, carbon-rich wool every year.
It complained that many environmental rating systems (including the Higg Index and the European Union’s Product Environmental Footprint methodology) rate wool as having a greater impact than synthetic fibres, including polyester, acrylic and nylon.
According to IWTO, this is a mistake that has come about because accounting standards fail to distinguish between fossil carbon and biogenic carbon.
It said that if rating systems were to start “accounting for biological reality”, wool’s carbon footprint would come down by up to 75%. It said the fibre would even have the potential to be recognised as being carbon neutral.
The organisation insisted this would apply to all photosynthesis-based materials including leather, cotton and other natural fibres.
“Understanding biogenic carbon cycles is critical for supporting the circular bioeconomy and preventing productive agricultural land from being wrongly penalised,” IWTO concluded.
