The Fashion, Energy, and Climate Network is a faculty-led platform at Columbia Climate School and part of the School’s Earth Networks initiative, developed in collaboration with the Center on Global Energy Policy, to advance interdisciplinary work at the intersection of fashion, energy, and climate. Grounded in the idea of fashion as a connected system, the Network examines how materials, manufacturing, design, business practice, and policy interact across the fashion value chain. By addressing the fragmentation that often separates these conversations, it brings together industry leaders, faculty, researchers, students, and policymakers to support more integrated and practical approaches to transition.
Drawing on expertise from across Columbia and working in partnership with external organizations, the Network serves as a hub for collaboration, knowledge exchange, and public engagement. Through research, convenings, publications, and partnerships, it connects academic insight with industry practice and helps strengthen the broader ecosystem for fashion and climate work across higher education and beyond.
OUR WORK
We approach fashion as an interconnected system across the value chain. Within that system, our work focuses on three core areas:
OUR ECOSYSTEM
We’re proud to have convened and collaborated with a diverse range of organisations, academic institutions, industry leaders, nonprofits, and policy experts through panel discussions, events, and partnerships, advancing dialogue and action at the intersection of fashion, energy, and climate.
Thursday, April 2, 2026
4:40 PM - 7:00 PM
Thursday, March 26, 2026
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
In this session, network founder Sally Qiu spoke with Trevor Sutton, Director of the Program on Trade and the Clean Energy Transition at CGEP, to explore why trade and trade policy are increasingly central to fashion’s decarbonization.
Thursday, February 26, 2026
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
The Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP) at Columbia SIPA and the Fashion, Energy, and Climate Network hosted their first session of the new talk series: Fashion in the Energy Transition, designed to connect the fashion and apparel value chain to the broader energy transition and climate change agenda.
The first session, “Phasing Out Fossil Fuels and China’s Role,” featured Dr. Erica Downs and Sally Qiu in a moderated, interactive discussion on what a global fossil fuel transition could mean for fashion and apparel supply chains, and the importance of China’s role.
Tuesday, December 2, 2025
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
This panel discussion, cohosted by Impact Fashion and the Fashion, Energy and Climate Network, explored how digital innovation is transforming the fashion industry’s approach to waste reduction and circularity. Featuring industry experts and sustainability leaders, the event highlighted emerging technologies that help minimize material waste and extend product lifecycles.
The session included a moderated panel conversation, followed by an interactive Q&A with the audience.
Monday, September 22, 2025
9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
International Affairs Building, 420 W. 118 St., New York, NY 10027
Room/Area: 1501
Following last year’s Renewing Fashion event, this year’s Transforming Fashion's Footprint: Innovation and Business digs deeper into key challenges and opportunities for climate and energy transition actions in the fashion sector. While various efforts continue to be made to estimate fashion’s environmental footprint, major gaps remain in how to decarbonize material production and reshape business practices. Our first session explores cutting-edge materials innovations where the biggest contribution could be made in ameliorating the largest share of the fashion value chain’s carbon emissions. The second session turns to business models. How can fashion bridge the gap between academic research and real-world enterprise? What strategies work to scale sustainability while maintaining commercial viability?
Key Questions:
Confirmed Speakers:
April 2025
Culture for Climate: Bridging Art, Fashion, and Education
Co-hosted by Four Earth Networks at Columbia Climate School, the event explored the intersection of creativity and climate action through two dynamic panel discussions on how climate issues are embedded in creative industries and careers, and on building purpose-driven paths in fashion, sports, and education. It also featured a student showcase presenting innovative low-waste fashion design, a guide to secondhand shopping in NYC, and digital art critiquing the fashion industry.
February 2025
Sustainable Fashion Exchange
Over 100 students, alumni, researchers, and industry professionals gathered for an evening of inspiring dialogue and networking around sustainable fashion. Co-hosted by Four Earth Networks at Columbia Climate School and Yale's Moving the Needle, the event opened with remarks from Sandra Goldmark, who emphasized the importance of interdisciplinary and institutional collaboration. A panel discussion featuring Michelle Gabriel, Kevin Karl, Dr. Meital Mizrachi, and Sally Qiu provided insights into sustainability and creative industries. The evening concluded with post-panel networking, including icebreaker activities and community-building discussions.
November 2024
Role of policy in circular fashion
We were thrilled to host an insightful discussion on the “Role of Policy in Supporting Circular Fashion” with the Ethical Fashion Working Group at SIPA and Earth Networks’ Fashion, Energy, and Climate at Columbia Climate School. Amy Myers Jaffe, a distinguished leader in energy, climate policy, and sustainability, shared her expertise on the policy drivers shaping the future of sustainable fashion. As Co-Chair of CGEP’s Women in Energy Steering Committee and Director of the Energy, Climate Justice, and Sustainability Lab at NYU, Jaffe brought invaluable insights from her extensive experience in academia and policy advisory roles.
September 2024
Renewing Fashion: Clean Energy and Circular Economy
This event brought together leading voices driving fashion’s clean and circular transition to address these pressing issues. The panel explored how to phase out fossil fuels, curb oversupply, scale textile-to-textile recycling, align global goals with local policies, and finance the industry’s transformation. Speakers also shared best practices and strategies for creating a sustainable, net-positive future for fashion.
The discussion tackled key questions such as the role of clean energy in circularity, the most effective strategies to scale fabric recycling, approaches to reduce oversupply through design and behavior change, and the financing mechanisms needed to support this transition.
Speakers included:
Maxine Bédat (The New Standard Institute), Tricia Carey (Transformers Foundation, Accelerating Circularity), Sandra Goldmark (Columbia Climate School), Amy Jaffe (Columbia University & NYU), Sarah Kent (The Business of Fashion), Dennis Nobelius (Syre), and Nicolaj Reffstrup (GANNI). The session was moderated by Sally Qiu, Co-Director of the Fashion, Energy, and Climate Network.
| Name | Title | |
| Knight, Adore | Student | akk2197@columbia.edu |
| Young, Ashely | Student, Sustainable Development | aey2117@columbia.edu |
| Sandalow, David | Senior Research Scholar; Inaugural Fellow | dbs2167@columbia.edu |
| Rajan, Dhaya | Student | dm4030@columbia.edu |
| Downs, Erica | Senior Research Scholar | ed347@columbia.edu |
| Cohen, Esmé | Student, Sustainable Development | ec3675@columbia.edu |
| Halldórudóttir Heiðarsdóttir, Hörn | hornheidars@gmail.com | |
| Weis, Jessica | Program Director, Women in Energy Program | jw4383@columbia.edu |
| Weiner, Mick | Impact Manager | mrw2196@columbia.edu |
| Valente, Tiago | tiago@tiagovalente.name |
