Did the head of the World Economic Forum (WEF), Klaus Schwab, say that "fashion" will be abolished by 2030 to cut greenhouse emissions and that people will only be allowed three clothing items per year? That's not true. Klaus Schwab, the president of WEF, did not say "fashion" will end by 2030 to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) published by Tiktok on July 4th, 2023, under the title "Head of WEF: Fashion will be abolished by 2030." It opened:
"People will only be allowed three clothing items a year."
"People will have to wear uniforms."
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Thu Jul 6 13:04:05 2023 UTC)
This claim is false. The head of WEF did not say fashion will be over by 2030, and people will only be allowed three pieces of clothing per year. These lines were taken out of context. They are from "THE FUTURE OF URBAN CONSUMPTION IN A 1.5°C WORLD", a report prepared by the University of Leeds and C40 network, a global network of cities with the biggest economies to coordinate action in confronting the climate crisis. The report was sponsored by the WEF to imagine new goals that could further limit greenhouse emissions by tackling emissions generated by individual consumption:
"This report considers actions that can be taken across six priority areas of the global economy: food; clothing and textiles; electronics and household appliances; buildings and infrastructure; private transport: and aviation."
The recommendations listed in the report, including reducing urban consumption in various sectors like clothing and food, are by no means mandatory. Rather, they were proposed as an analysis of potential actions to address greenhouse gas emissions arising from personal consumption.
