"The G7 will commit to addressing the severe environmental and climate impacts of the fashion and textile sectors."
This was stated on Monday by the French Minister of Environmental Transition, Christophe Bechu, AFP reported.
The environment ministers of the world's 7 largest economies gathered in Turin for two days of talks on the problem of fast fashion.
Ministers hope to curb the rampant growth of the textile industry, which is responsible for much plastic pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
"Textile emissions are now more important than all of Africa's emissions," Bechu said.
Emissions are a driver of global warming and must be cut by almost half this decade if countries are to have any chance of meeting the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The Turin Declaration is the first time the G7 has spoken firmly about textile emissions, according to Bechu, who said it emphasized "that fashion must become more circular, there must be more recycling."
The total annual greenhouse gas emissions from textile production are greater than those emitted by all international flights and shipping combined, consulting firm McKinsey said in December.
Environmentalists have long called on the industry to slow or end the wasteful trend of mass-producing cheap clothes that are quickly thrown away.
Fast fashion uses huge amounts of water, produces dangerous chemicals and clogs landfills in poor countries with textile waste, while generating greenhouse gases in production, transport and disposal.
Last month, the European Environment Agency (EEA) warned that Europe must step up its efforts to transform its economy into a circular one focused on the reuse or re-use of materials if it is to meet climate targets.
A recent EEA study showed that between 4 and 9% of textiles placed on the European market end up being destroyed without being used.
The G7 commitment follows a vote in the French parliament in March to support a series of measures that make cheap fast fashion, especially from Chinese mass producers, less attractive to shoppers.
