New cotton sustainability assessment tool

Online tool from Textile Exchange measures environmental, economic and social aspects of organic cotton production.

Textile Exchange (TE), a nonprofit dedicated to accelerating sustainability in textile manufacturing, has launched the Organic Cotton Sustainability Assessment Tool (OC-SAT), an online tool for assessing the environmental, economic and social impacts of organic cotton agriculture.

TE will hold an interactive webinar to review the OC-SAT on April 22 at 10 a.m. EST. The OC-SAT is part of TE’s continuing effort to chart tangible data on organic cotton cultivation. In 2014, TE commissioned PE International, a German sustainability software and consulting company, to conduct a global Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of organic cotton. The LCA showed the quantifiable environmental benefits of organic cotton cultivation including significant reduction in global warming potential, energy demand, water use and soil erosion.

The framework for the OC-SAT was developed in line with the work of the Committee on Sustainability Assessment (COSA) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. While the tool has been road tested on organic cotton, the assessment framework could be developed for other initiatives in the sector.

Source: Textile Exchange