(New York, December 10, 2025) – The International Accord for Health and Safety in the Garment and Textile Industry has agreed to develop a Protocol on Heat Stress to strengthen climate-related protections for workers in global fashion supply chains, Climate Rights International said today. The announcement comes in the wake of worker complaints related to extreme workplace temperatures and advocacy efforts undertaken by global labor rights, climate change, and sustainable fashion organizations, including a coalition of 45 organizations led by Climate Rights International.

Climate Rights International welcomed the commitment to establish the first climate-related safety protocol within the International Accord. This decision, which has the potential to improve protections for more than 3 million workers across more than 2,000 factories under the Accord’s jurisdiction across South Asia, sets a precedent for binding, enforceable protections against extreme heat across global fashion supply chains. Fashion brands party to the Accord should support the development, resourcing, and implementation of the new heat stress protocol, and ensure it becomes a central component of factory inspections, remediation, and worker-centered safety reforms, said Climate Rights International.

“These efforts by the Accord represent a potentially transformative moment for the global fashion industry,” said Cara Schulte, researcher at Climate Rights International. “The Accord’s commitment is one of the first times a binding international safety agreement has formally recognized and attempted to address extreme heat as a threat to worker health and well-being.”

The International Accord is a legally binding agreement between garment brands and trade unions that evolved from the 2013 Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, which came in response to the Rana Plaza disaster. 282 brands, including major fashion labels such as ASOS, BESTSELLER, C&A, H&M Group, Inditex (Bershka, Massimo Dutti, Pull&Bear, Zara), MANGO, Marks & Spencer, PUMA, and PVH (Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein), are members of the Accord.

Since its inception, the Accord has become an international framework that supports the implementation of country-specific safety programs (CSSPs) in Bangladesh and Pakistan, with plans to expand to additional countries. The Chief Safety Officers identified under both the Accord and the CSSPs conduct factory inspections and, if safety violations are found, authorize and execute remediation efforts. Until now, the Accord’s mandate has focused on building, fire, structural, and boiler safety. As a result, it has not previously systemically addressed climate risks or integrated extreme heat complaints into its inspections or remediation program.

Global Advocacy Efforts

In September, Climate Rights International coordinated a joint letter signed by 45 organizations around the world urging the Accord’s Steering Committee to recognize and integrate heat stress as a fifth safety pillar of the Accord and all CSSPs. The letter drew on findings from CRI’s 2024-2025 investigation, “My Body is Burning”: Climate Change, Extreme Heat, and Labor Rights in Bangladesh, that documented workplace exposure to dangerously high indoor temperatures among garment workers, inadequate ventilation, fainting episodes, and various labor rights abuses that forced workers to continue production through extreme conditions, limiting their ability to protect themselves from the heat.

In the lead-up to the renegotiation of the Pakistan Accord, Climate Rights International  conducted an investigation into the health and human rights impacts of heat stress on garment workers in Pakistan, “They Don’t See What Heat Does to Our Bodies”: Climate Change, Labor Rights, and the Cost of Fashion in Karachi, Pakistan, again documenting instances of unsafe water, dehydration, heat-related fainting, and production targets and workplace rules that prevented rest breaks, even during peak heat conditions.

On November 24, 2025, CRI shared an advance summary of these findings in a private letter to the Accord and requested confirmation of a comment in the minutes of the Steering Committee’s September meeting indicating that the Committee had found  that heat stress falls within the Accord’s mandate, including for inspections and remediation. The letter also asked for clarification of the basis for this conclusion.

On December 8, 2025, the Accord formally responded to Climate Rights International’s communications, confirming that, “The Steering Committee discussed the issue of heat stress raised by Climate Rights International during its most recent meeting held in September 2025. It recognized that, although matters related to heat stress have been raised by workers through the Accord’s complaints mechanism, this issue is not yet addressed in a systemic manner supported by technical expertise within the Accord’s Inspections and Remediation program.”

The Accord further stated that heat stress is, in fact, a “specific risk” and therefore falls under the scope of the Accord’s CSSPs, noting, “It was agreed that the International Accord’s Secretariat and Technical Committee will develop a Protocol on Heat Stress to ensure this is addressed on a systemic and preventive basis, and integrated into the Accord’s Inspections and Remediation programs.”

The letter noted that, as part of these efforts, the Accord’s Technical Committee, which brings together the Chief Safety Officers of all CSSPs, will conduct consultations with local unions, labor support organizations, brands (including those mentioned in Climate Rights International’s reports), and technical experts, and will explore relevant engineering solutions.

“The Accord’s commitment marks one of the first times brands are moving beyond broader mitigation pledges to actually address climate risks to the workers in their supply chains,” said Schulte. “The Accord’s decision shows that binding, rights-based climate protections are not only necessary but possible to protect the millions of workers who make clothes for people around the world.”

List of Organizations Who Signed the September Letter

Action Speaks Louder, All Pakistan Federation of United Trade Unites (APFUTU), Asia Human Rights and Labor Advocates (AHRLA), Awaj Foundation, Bangladesh, Bangladesh Apparel Workers Federation (BAWF), Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS), Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST), Bangladesh National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF), Bangladesh National Trade Union Federation (BNTUF), Centre for Climate Justice, Bangladesh (CCJ-B), Change Associates Ltd, Bangladesh, Child Labor Coalition, Coletivo Somos, Collective Fashion Justice, Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepard, US, Egreen News, Fashion Act Now, Fashion Revolution, Fashion Takes Action, Farmworker Association of Florida, Farmworkers and Landscapers Advocacy Project, Global Environmental Health Solutions Lab, University of California, Berkeley, Global March Against Child Labour, Heat Resilience and Performance Centre, National University of Singapore, HeatWatch Foundation, Health Systems Thinkers, LLCs, HKM Employment Attorneys LLP, Institute of Quantitative Social Sciences, Harvard University, Keen Solutions Limited, La Isla Network, LLC (Sustainable Fashion), Media Voices for Children, Migrant Forum in Asia, MSI Reproductive Choices in Vietnam, National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, NOPE Kenya, Project Dandelion, Remake, The Sustainable Fashion Forum, Textile, Garment and Clothing Workers Union, Sri Lanka, Universal Access Project, Wardrobe Crisis, and Women for Women’s Wear.

Other groups who did not sign the letter also supported these efforts through their own advocacy, including Clean Clothes Campaign, which released a position paper on heat and garment workers’ rights in September.