Global Textile Policy Dialogues

Alongside the sixth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-6) in February 2024, governments recognised the urgent need for a policy coordination mechanism to build coherence in the policy response to address the adverse effects of the textile value chain on nature, people and economies. To do so, governments called for a global policy dialogue on textiles.

Mustafa Tuzcu, Türkiye’s Deputy Minister of Trade, called for UNEP to “bring and convene a wide array of governments in an inclusive policy dialogue to facilitate the transition towards a climate neutral, resource efficient and circular textile sector”. 

“A global policy dialogue allows for more international coordination for policy implementation and to share experience and knowledge on different policy initiatives” – Afke van Rijn, Vice Minister for the Environment and International Affairs at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management in the Netherlands.

At UNEA-6, governments agreed that the dialogue series should be government-led, inclusive and address various aspects of circularity in textiles, including:

“We need to start thinking collectively about the issue of textile waste, and France is ready to get involved.” –  H.E. Arnaud Suquet, France’s Ambassador to Kenya and UNEP Permanent Representative.

“Not only are we interested to learn from the success stories of other countries, we also want to learn from their failures” – Lydia Essuah, Director of Policy, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation at the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation of Ghana.

The priorities of the Global Textile Policy Dialogues in 2026 and beyond were co-defined through a series of online consultation meetings hosted by UNEP in November 2025 and are captured in this Roadmap. The roadmap presents the outline of the purpose, approach and priority activities of the UNEP-facilitated Global Textile Policy Dialogues. It is a living text that will be updated as the work evolves and as Member States involved in the Dialogues wish to change it.