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Dignity factory workers producing shirts for overseas clients, in Accra, Ghana

Six Seasons, Four Summers: How to Solve Fashion's High Heat Problem

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Cooling investments in Bangladesh’s apparel factories can be commercially viable, with an average payback period of one to four years, according to new research from Cornell University’s Global Labor Institute.

a washing image
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The Dindigul Agreement to End Gender-based Violence and Harassment

Has It Worked?

This is GLI’s official final assessment of the Dindigul Agreement to End Gender-Based Violence and Harassment at a South Indian apparel factory that could be a model for other factories around the world. 

Large room of garment factory workers
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Measuring Supply Chain Due Diligence

Labor Outcomes Metrics

Read about the Global Labor Institute's new quantitative metrics that measure labor outcomes—actual impacts for workers.

Workers in Bangladesh
Read more about Measuring Supply Chain Due Diligence

Cooling Before It Got Cool: Case Studies in Heat Adaptation in Southeast Asian Factories

Heat Adaptation in Apparel Factories

A new examination of how apparel factories are adapting to extreme heat while investing in cooling, automation, and climate resilience strategies.

A thermal image of a worker at a station in a garment factory, showing the high heat levels through brighter orange colors at their workstation.
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Global Labor Institute's Climate-Labor Work

GLI Climate-Labor Research

See all of our analyses on the intersection of labor rights and climate change.

GLI climate workers webinar
Read GLI's Climate-Labor Work

Latest Research and Events

EU Forced Labour Regulation to the rescue: Can the EU’s Forced Labor Regulation confront the gendered face of forced labor?

As the EU is set to implement their Forced Labour Regulation in 2027, questions remain about how exactly it will tackle forced and child labour. Visiting Fellow Samira Rafaela interrogates that question by looking at the case of forced labor in the Indian sugar industry in this policy brief.
Sugar cane stands in a field in India
EU Forced Labour Regulation to the rescue: Can the EU’s Forced Labor Regulation confront the gendered face of forced labor?

Brand Purchasing Practices and Labor Outcomes in Apparel and Footwear Supply Chains: The Case of Multi-Buyer Suppliers

This report looks at the purchasing practices of global companies by looking at the purchasing data of two major global suppliers to see how that effects the labor conditions at these two suppliers.
flat digital image of the world showing the concept of connection points across continents
Brand Purchasing Practices and Labor Outcomes in Apparel and Footwear Supply Chains: The Case of Multi-Buyer Suppliers

W(h)ither Trade and Labor? What’s Next in the World of Transnational Labour Governance?

Join us in Geneva alongside the ILO annual meeting for a public debate (and a drink!) co-hosted by the Graduate Institute’s TASC Platform and Cornell University’s Global Labor Institute. It’s Friday, 6 June 2025, 18:30 – 21:30 CEST, at the InterContinental Hotel, Geneva, just down the street from the ILO.
The Geneva Graduate Institute and GLI logos are stacked on top of each other
W(h)ither Trade and Labor? What’s Next in the World of Transnational Labour Governance?

GLI and Human Rights Watch Q&A: European Union Forced Labor Regulation

The EU’s new Forced Labor Regulation will require companies to identify and eliminate forced labor in their operations and supply chains, Human Rights Watch and GLI say in a question-and-answer document about the new law.
Three European Union flags fly from flagpoles
GLI and Human Rights Watch Q&A: European Union Forced Labor Regulation

Schroders and GLI publish stewardship framework on climate risk resilience and adaptation: 'Engaging with companies on Just Resilience: An Investor Toolkit'

From Schroders (and GLI) comes the first ever climate adaptation guidance for investor engagement with firms: "Schroders has begun applying the toolkit for its engagement with apparel brands and plans to expand its application to other exposed sectors, including food and construction."
A person stands holding a red umbrella in floodwaters. In white text, it says "Engaging with companies on Just Resilience: An Investor Toolkit | April 2025."
Schroders and GLI publish stewardship framework on climate risk resilience and adaptation: 'Engaging with companies on Just Resilience: An Investor Toolkit'

Q&A: Tariff Impacts on Apparel Workers and Fashion Industry

Jason Judd, executive director of ILR’s Global Labor Institute, addressed questions about the potential impacts of U.S. tariffs on workers in apparel-producing countries and on the fashion industry.
Photograph of garment workers in Bangladesh at sewing machines.
Q&A: Tariff Impacts on Apparel Workers and Fashion Industry

In The News

Media Mentions

The COP30 Deal Won’t Solve Fashion’s Climate Problems

The Business of Fashion News
Jason Judd, executive director of the Global Labor Institute, recommends that the fashion industry should “get their act together” with regard to heat and climate change, “because workers are suffering from heat stress and, in turn, so are margins.”
The COP30 Deal Won’t Solve Fashion’s Climate Problems

Do the Labor Provisions in Trump’s Southeast Asian Trade Deals Have a Point?

Sourcing Journal
Kelly Fay Rodriguez, visiting lecturer at ILR’s Global Labor Institute and former special representative for international affairs at the Department of State, analyzes the importance of labor provisions in trade agreements and discusses how these provisions can best be enforced.
Do the Labor Provisions in Trump’s Southeast Asian Trade Deals Have a Point?

Resilient Threads: Weaving A Climate-Ready, Regenerative Future for Cotton in India

Observer Research Foundation
A study by ILR’s Global Labor Institute is cited in a discussion about climate change causing problems for the cotton supply chain used by Asia’s fashion sector.
Resilient Threads: Weaving A Climate-Ready, Regenerative Future for Cotton in India

Jason Judd wants the apparel industry to take heat stress very seriously

Big Closets Small Planet Podcast
The garment industry can mitigate health problems and production slowdowns caused by heat stress, but will it? In this podcast episode, Jason Judd, executive director of the ILR Global Labor Institute, shares a nuanced look at climate change adaptation in the garment industry.
Jason Judd wants the apparel industry to take heat stress very seriously

Commentary: How Chinese imports are skirting Trump’s tariffs

Yahoo News
Jason Judd, executive director of the Global Labor Institute, explains that Chinese companies are avoiding Trump tariffs because they are increasingly building their own production facilities outside of China.
Commentary: How Chinese imports are skirting Trump’s tariffs

This week in Trumponomics: The looming import shortage

Yahoo News
Once current inventories are gone, the rest of 2025 could be rocky. “Our perspective in terms of how this will affect manufacturers and workers is that we’ll see a replay of the initial COVID shock,” said Jason Judd, executive director of the Global Labor Institute.
This week in Trumponomics: The looming import shortage