Keen to develop and share better practice for greater impact, Laudes Foundation is a learning organisation.
We commission and listen to new research and constantly evaluate ourselves as well as the initiatives we support.
We take on the lessons that the research and evaluations provide, and openly share them.
To tackle the climate crisis and catalyse positive change towards a net-zero and equitable future, industrial transitions are urgently needed across all sectors of the global economy from agriculture to apparel production, construction and energy. Laudes Foundation, Wallace Global Fund and Ford Foundation each work to accelerate climate transitions through people-centred and rights-based approaches. With this in mind, these philanthropies commissioned a “mapping of organisations and efforts working to deliver just transitions across sectors and geographies”, as a springboard to enable ecosystem-building and inform strategic grant-making and collaboration in this area. The research was conducted between August and December 2023 by Climate Horizons, a diverse global team of expert consultants. The result, a mapping of 600+ initiatives across four regions (Europe, Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia) and five major sectors (built environment, fashion, finance and capital markets, and extractives – including fossil fuels). This mapping prioritises breadth rather than depth, seeking to present a broader picture of initiatives focused on just transitions and to inspire and inform more in-depth mapping and analysis in the future. The mapping focuses on the main trends and needs that emerged from extensive desk-based research and over 40 stakeholder interviews as well as highlighting specific opportunities for philanthropy to intervene in more coherent, coordinated and effective ways. Please view this mapping as an initial evidence base and catalyst for relevant contributions to the field of just transitions by philanthropy and other actors.
Laudes Foundation, Partners for a New Economy and Demos Helsinki carried out a landscape analysis of the organisations working in Europe to create an economic paradigm shift. Who and where are they? How are they contributing to this cause? What are the steps to foster a thriving and joyful movement that will create an economy that serves the people and the planet?
The report assess the current status of efforts to tackle climate and inequality in the fashion and built environment industries and the finance and capital markets sector.
To accelerate a circular economy in fashion, innovations along with their enabling supply chains are critical. Laudes Foundation commissioned a study to analyse the potential agricultural waste has as feedstocks for fashion in South and South-East Asia.
The purpose of this research was to identify core social equity issues and actors related to the decarbonisation process of the built environment in Europe.
Core support grants have an enormous potential to strengthen partners and leverage grantmaking effectiveness, representing a cornerstone of trust-based philanthropy. In the report ‘Core grants: the long and winding road to transformative funding’, jointly developed with INTRAC, we evaluated lessons learned and interviewed funders such as MAVA as grantees and civil society thought leaders to explore the challenges preventing wider adoption of this funding mechanism.
A Laudes-commissioned study into transparency in the apparel industry in Bangladesh reveals that while local and global initiatives are making progress, brands, manufacturers and workers are facing significant barriers to achieving more transparency in their sectors.
This report provides a preliminary roadmap for the industry to move towards chemical circularity, and key concepts are presented in an accessible way that requires an elementary understanding of the fashion industry.
Mapped in Bangladesh, an initiative by BRAC UNIVERSITY, supported by C&A FOUNDATION, aims to map export-oriented readymade garment factories across Bangladesh. The map presents a new way of working in the apparel industry. It eliminates duplication and facilitates cooperation while creating accountability.
At a time when sustainability is receiving increasing attention – both from the public as well as within the business and policy sphere, there is still much unclarity on the future perspectives of sustainability (not only) in the fashion sector. C&A Foundation commissioned this study to reflect on these future perspectives in the fashion industry with the aim to make the results available and usable for the sector.
This research demonstrates how pricing pollution and using the revenues for social impact could benefit low-income countries. According to the study it is possible to design policies that reduce resource use and harmful emissions, while at the same time stimulating the economy and creating jobs.
The 2019 Better Buying Index Report introduces for the first time, country-level analyses and examples of the purchasing practices of individual companies. These new findings illustrate the value of deeply analyzing business practices so that the relationships between retailers/brands, and their suppliers, can provide beneficial and sustainable outcomes for all. This publication had C&A Foundation support.
Women represent more than 60% of the Mexican apparel industry workforce. This report, made by Hispanics in Philanthropy and the non-profit B Lab with the support of C&A Foundation, highlights both the circumstances that women workers face and the broader economic environment in which apparel companies operate, which significantly affects how these companies treat their employees.
In order to broaden the understanding of environmental impacts, C&A Foundation commissioned a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Better Cotton, conventional cotton and organic cotton cultivation systems, according to the principles of the ISO 14040/44 and to document the results. LCA is a recognized tool to measure and quantify the environmental impacts of production systems or products, also aid to discover improvement potentials.
C&A Foundation commissioned a consultant to develop a process document- key lessons on collective bargaining from Bangladesh’s apparel sector, that captures the effectiveness of CBAs as a tool for worker empowerment and a responsible supply chain resulting in a more sustainable fashion industry.
This combined report is the result of two studies commissioned by C&A Foundation on cotton farming in Madhya Pradesh, India. The American Institutes for Research (AIR) and its partner Outline India designed and conducted a social impact assessment, while Thinkstep India focused on an environmental impact assessment.
C&A Foundation commissioned the American Institutes for Research (AIR) and its partner Outline India to design and implement a social impact assessment on the characteristics of cotton farming in Madhya Pradesh, India.
In the “Governance for the Circular Economy” report, Origame explores the conditions and dynamics for governance with global thought leaders and circular economy innovators.
Together, with our partner Fashion for Good, we asked the systems change research institute, DRIFT, to develop a study the root causes of persistent problems in the fashion industry and to identify the potential patterns, pressures and levers related to transformative change.
The 2018 Organic Cotton Market Report from Textile Exchange is filled with data and analytics, alongside the ever-popular country roundups and bite-sized, yet totally inspiring, stories from the organic field.
CottonUP a practical guide to sourcing more sustainable cotton. The guide was created with the vision of a cotton industry that is a force for good for workers, and the environment along the entire supply chain
The C&A Foundation commissioned Impactt – a consultancy specialising in ethical trade, human rights, and labour standards – to look at the socio-environmental impact of the dramatic growth of Myanmar's garment industry.
New research from Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) has explored the impact of Myanmar's labour dispute resolution system, as the country continues to open its borders to international supply chains. The system was established in 2012 to protect and enforce the rights and obligations of workers and employers across industries, and has been used to good effect in the garment sector.
Cotton supports around 100 million rural families across the globe; it provides employment and income, and the garment industry depends on it. But cotton has its problems: it has been associated with everything from forced and child labour to pesticide poisoning of farmers and their families and environmental pollution. A number of high profile initiatives are tackling the problems, but there is still much to do and data is sketchy.
An estimated 75 million people are now employed by the apparel industry. It's a number that has almost quadrupled in the last 15 years. With this exponential growth, the not-so-hidden costs of fashion too have increased. But while critics say that changing company behaviour simply isn't profitable, social innovators are proving that there are imaginative and practical ways to get factories and brands on board.
