As global pressure mounts on the textile and apparel industry to decarbonize, practical, scalable solutions remain one of the sector’s biggest challenges—especially in complex wet processing operations. In Bangladesh, a country at the heart of global apparel manufacturing, bridging the gap between sustainability theory and factory-floor reality is no longer optional, it is urgent.
The annual Global Change Award, run by the H&M Foundation, recognised ten trailblazing innovations focused on decarbonising the fashion industry and advancing equity across global supply chains in 2025. Among the winners, Bangladesh stood out as Dr. Mohammad Abbas Uddin of the Bangladesh University of Textiles (BUTEX) earned recognition for his project, “Decarbonization Lab for Textile Process Innovation,” reinforcing the country’s growing role in sustainable textile innovation.
In this exclusive interview, Dr. Mohammad Abbas Uddin (Shiyak), Associate Professor at the Department of Dyes and Chemical Engineering at Bangladesh University of Textiles, shares the journey behind the Decarbonization Lab—a concept born from more than two decades of hands-on industry experience.
Drawing on work across hundreds of textile factories and international collaborations, he offers rare insight into how low-cost, process-driven innovations can turn sustainability from an abstract ambition into measurable industrial impact.
He also outlines the challenges, breakthroughs, and future vision for positioning Bangladesh not just as a manufacturing powerhouse, but as a leader in sustainable textile innovation.
FBJ: Could you share your motivation and the story behind initiating the Decarbonization Lab project?
Dr. Mohammad Abbas Uddin: Decarbonization Lab was forged in the heat, steam and rhythms of the machines in the factory floor from my more than two decades of close engagement with the textile industry as an engineer, academic, and sustainability consultant. Since 2002 when my professional work started, through my work with Reed Consultancy from 2014 and various international collaborations, I have contributed to more than 200 Resource Efficiency and Cleaner Production (RECP) initiatives across over 300 textile factories. These experiences provided deep insight into the operational realities of textile manufacturing, particularly in wet processing operations such as dyeing and finishing.
Throughout those thousands of hours of process innovation, I observed that while sustainability and decarbonization are becoming global priorities, many factories struggle to translate these concepts into practical operational improvements. Diving even deeper, I realized that there is often a gap between sustainability frameworks and what engineers and production managers can realistically implement on the factory floor.
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My realization ignited a spark inside, which needed a medium to shine throughout the sector. Eventually, a turning point came during my involvement in projects such as GIZ’s Informed Choice Matrix (2021–2022) and later the GIZ–H&M WaSaTex project (2023–2024). These initiatives demonstrated that targeted process improvements could significantly reduce water use and environmental impact. They also revealed that the industry has been lacking a dedicated and/or centralized platform to collect, analyse and share the practical know-how of decarbonization. This realization, culminated by years of trial, error and success led to the concept of the Decarbonization Lab for Textile Process Innovation.
FBJ: What key challenges did you face, and what innovative solutions have you implemented?
Dr. Mohammad Abbas Uddin: One of the main challenges in promoting sustainability within textile manufacturing is the complexity of wet processing operations. Dyeing and finishing processes involve many variables such as chemicals, temperature, water consumption, and energy use. Any process modification must maintain product quality and production efficiency, which makes factories understandably cautious about change.
Another challenge is the knowledge gap within many factories. I have seen many managements initially hesitate to improve environmental performance — not from lack of goodwill, but from limited-to-no availability of technical guidance on process redesigning.
The Decarbonization Lab focuses on systematic process-level innovation rather than large capital investments. Solutions include optimizing liquor ratios in dyeing machines, shortening process steps, reusing dyebaths and process water where feasible, and integrating more efficient chemicals and materials.
The lab is proving that ‘decarbonization’ doesn’t have to be a blind gamble, as many of these interventions are low-cost or no-cost improvements that can be implemented within existing production systems.
FBJ: What has been the impact of your work on the textile and apparel industry in Bangladesh and globally?
Dr. Mohammad Abbas Uddin: Through RECP projects and industry collaborations over the past two decades, our work has helped textile factories improve environmental performance while enhancing operational efficiency. Many factories have achieved reductions in water consumption, energy use, and chemical inputs without sacrificing their production competitive edge.
Bangladesh plays a crucial role in the global apparel supply chain, and improvements in its textile processing sector can create significant global impact, as efficiency within the industry isn’t just a metric, rather harnessing a global imperative. By introducing practical approaches to resource efficiency and decarbonization, initiatives like the Decarbonization Lab can support factories in meeting international sustainability expectations.
Recognition from the H&M Foundation’s Global Change Award for the Decarbonization Lab concept has further highlighted the importance of practical innovation in accelerating sustainable transformation within the textile industry.
FBJ: What is your future vision for sustainable textile processing, and how can Bangladesh take a leading role?
Dr. Mohammad Abbas Uddin: My vision is to develop the Decarbonization Lab into a collaborative platform where industry, academia, and international partners work together to accelerate low-carbon textile production.
Bangladesh has already proven its strength in setting a key global manufacturing base and has been acting as one of the torchbearers in environmental compliance and green factory development. But the journey towards a planet-positive future doesn’t end at meeting standards, it begins by defining, undefining and re-defining them.
The future of ‘sustainability-excellence’ is needed to be built on exporting innovation rather than importing solutions. Therefore, the next step is to strengthen innovation capacity within the country so that sustainability solutions are developed locally and shared globally.
We envision a future where we will not just produce garments, but also sustainably engineer the decarbonization of the planet, one process at a time. By combining engineering expertise, digital diagnostic tools, and collaborative research. Bangladesh has the potential to evolve from a major manufacturing hub into a ‘global leader in sustainable textile innovation’.
