Case Competition Information

Fast Fashion

• A term describing the rapid production of inexpensive, low-quality clothing that often mimics popular styles of fashion labels, big-name brands, and independent designers. 

Smart Textiles

• These are fabrics that can sense changes in their surroundings (like temperature, light, pressure, or chemicals) and then respond or adapt to those changes automatically because special technologies or materials are built into the fabric itself. 

Renewable Energy

• Renewable energy comes from natural sources that replenish faster than we use them like sunlight and wind. These resources are constantly available and found all around us. 

• In contrast, fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas take millions of years to form and are not renewable. When burned, they release greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide that harm the environment. 

• Producing renewable energy creates far fewer emissions than burning fossil fuels. Shifting from fossil fuels, which generate most global emissions, to renewable energy is essential to tackling climate change. 

• Today, renewables are cheaper in most countries and create three times more jobs than fossil fuels 

Carbon Tax

• A carbon tax is a fee charged on carbon in fossil fuels and sometimes on other greenhouse gases like methane. It puts a price on pollution to encourage people, businesses, and governments to reduce their emissions. 

Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG)

• Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) is a comprehensive framework that looks at organizational impacts on the environment; the treatment of employees, stakeholders and community members; and addresses the quality of governance structures. 

Greenwashing

• Greenwashing presents a significant obstacle to tackling climate change. By misleading the public to believe that a company or other entity is doing more to protect the environment than it is, greenwashing promotes false solutions to the climate crisis that distract from and delay concrete and credible action. 
   
  Greenwashing manifests itself in several ways – some more obvious than others. Tactics include: 

• Claiming to be on track to reduce a company’s polluting emissions to net zero when no credible plan is actually in place. 

• Being purposely vague or non-specific about a company’s operations or materials used. 

• Applying intentionally misleading labels such as “green” or “eco-friendly,” which do not have standard definitions and can be easily misinterpreted. 

• Implying that a minor improvement has a major impact or promoting a product that meets the minimum regulatory requirements as if it is significantly better than the standard. 

• Emphasizing a single environmental attribute while ignoring other impacts. 

• Claiming to avoid illegal or non-standard practices that are irrelevant to a product. 

• Communicating the sustainability attributes of a product in isolation of brand activities (and vice versa) – e.g. a garment made from recycled materials that is produced in a high-emitting factory that pollutes the air and nearby waterways. 

Blockchain

• Blockchain is a shared, immutable digital ledger, enabling the recording of transactions and the tracking of assets within a business network and providing a single source of truth. 

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