ARE SHOES REALLY GETTING GREENER?

How to sidestep the greenwashing and identify the meaningful steps being taken to reduce the colossal footprint of our running shoes.

- LILY CANTER

The running shoe industry is awash with sustainable messaging, net zero targets and innovative material developments that seek to assure us our running footsteps are treading lighter on the planet; but the uncomfortable truth is, these incremental changes in manufacturing are only scratching the surface. And if the current unsustainable manufacturing practices and consumption patterns continue, the planet will face irreversible ecological consequences, warn scientists.

A panel of industrial engineers from Loughborough University's Centre for Sustainable Manufacturing and Recycling Technologies (SMART) has warned that the current initiatives, investments and regulations to mitigate the impact of manufacturing on climate change are at best slowing down the rate of growth, rather than eliminating or reversing the damage caused.

Scientists agree that to have any hope of limiting global warming to a maximum increase of 2%, greenhouse gas (ghg) emissions need to be reduced by 80% by 2050. Yet the current targets fall far short of this level. The latest estimate is that by 2050, ghg emissions will have increased by only over 50%, even with all the current policies and targets in place. "It is the grossest kind of simplification and understatement to say we are not taking enough meaningful action," warns Shahin Rahimifard, professor of sustainable engineering at SMART. And the global trainer industry is a huge part of the problem - if it were a country, it would be the world's 17th largest polluter, emitting as much CO, as the whole of the UK.

WHAT IS SUSTAINABILITY, ANYWAY?