Polyester Reimagined: Evaluating the Impact of Textiles in Accelerating a Market for Low-Emissions Chemicals

This report by RMI uses polyester as a case study to analyze how product definitions and demand from retail sectors can accelerate the market for low-emissions chemicals. It identifies specific technological pathways to reduce the lifecycle emissions of polyester t-shirts and argues that setting emissions reduction thresholds at upstream stages (such as the PET resin step) is more effective at driving chemical industry decarbonization than setting them at the finished fabric stage.

• The lifecycle emissions of a polyester t-shirt are distributed across different value chain stages: primary chemicals (precursors for polyester) account for 77 percent of Scope 1 emissions, while the spinning and weaving of finished products account for 78 percent of Scope 2 emissions. Retailers' Scope 3 emissions represent 30 percent of the t-shirt's overall footprint, primarily from purchased goods, retail operations, and consumer use.
• Emissions reduction opportunities for polyester are categorized by timeline and investment type: near-term operational changes (renewable electricity and low-leakage natural gas) can mitigate 47 percent of the footprint; near-term capital investments (low-intensity hydrogen and process heat electrification) can reduce 31 percent; and long-term innovation (electrifying steam cracking and defossilized feedstocks) can address the remaining 13-28 percent. Transitioning to renewable CO2 and H2 feedstocks could reduce overall emissions by 45 percent.
• The placement of emissions reduction thresholds in the value chain determines the impact on chemical producers. A 50 percent reduction threshold defined at the polyester fabric step can be met through renewable energy in spinning and weaving without changing primary chemical emissions. Conversely, a 50 percent threshold at the PET resin step encourages both operational and capital investments that significantly cut emissions from chemical production.
• Market acceleration for low-emission chemicals can be driven by aggregated demand from multiple sectors (automobiles, food and beverage, healthcare, and construction) and government action. In the United States, a 10-50 percent shift toward green public procurement for military equipment and uniforms could represent $100-$500 million in federal spending toward low-emission chemicals.

APA

RMI (2025). Polyester Reimagined: Evaluating the Impact of Textiles in Accelerating a Market for Low-Emissions Chemicals. https://rmi.org/resources/polyester-reimagined-evaluating-the-impact-of-textiles-in-accelerating-a-market-for-low-emissions-chemicals/

Chicago

RMI. Polyester Reimagined: Evaluating the Impact of Textiles in Accelerating a Market for Low-Emissions Chemicals. 2025. https://rmi.org/resources/polyester-reimagined-evaluating-the-impact-of-textiles-in-accelerating-a-market-for-low-emissions-chemicals/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Polyester Reimagined: Evaluating the Impact of Textiles in Accelerating a Market for Low-Emissions Chemicals |date=16 January 2025 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/polyester-reimagined-evaluating-the-impact-of-textiles-in-accelerating-a-market-for-low-emissions-chemicals/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2025polyester, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Polyester Reimagined: Evaluating the Impact of Textiles in Accelerating a Market for Low-Emissions Chemicals}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2025}, month = jan, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/polyester-reimagined-evaluating-the-impact-of-textiles-in-accelerating-a-market-for-low-emissions-chemicals/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }