For the fourth time, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Solidaridad and the Pesticide Action Network (PAN) UK have published the Sustainable Cotton Ranking. The ranking analysed the 77 largest cotton users among international apparel brands and retailers, reviewing their policies, actual uptake of more sustainable cotton and transparency in their supply chains.
Access the 2020 Sustainable Cotton Ranking.
Adidas scored the highest in the 2020 Sustainable Cotton Ranking, followed by IKEA, H&M Group, C&A, Otto Group, Marks and Spencer Group, Levi Strauss & Co., Tchibo, Nike Inc., Decathlon Group and Bestseller, who all fell into the “leading the way’ category. Nine of these companies are BCI Retailer and Brand Members and also sit at the top of the Better Cotton Leaderboard, based on volumes of cotton sourced as Better Cotton.
The 2020 Sustainable Cotton Ranking illustrated that 11 companies are “leading the way’ when it comes to their sustainable cotton sourcing efforts, followed by 13 more companies that are “well on their way’ and 15 others which are “starting the journey’. According to the report, the remaining 38 companies have not yet started the journey.
Overall, the report found that progress has been made across the board on policy, uptake and traceability. Increasing numbers of companies are sourcing more sustainable cotton including Organic, Fairtrade, CmiA and Better Cotton, and overall uptake of more sustainable cotton has increased.
However, there is still a long way to go. With this ranking, PAN UK, Solidaridad and WWF hope to accelerate demand and uptake of more sustainable cotton by clothing and home-textile retailing companies around the world.
