Better Cotton Impact Targets: Q&A with Nisha Onta, Regional Coordinator for Asia at WOCAN

Photo Credit: BCI/Vibhor Yadav Location: Kodinar, Gujarat, India. 2019. Description: Cotton community harvesting cotton.
Photo Credit: Nisha Onta, WOCAN

Millions of women around the world dedicate their lives to cotton production, and yet their representation and contributions aren’t fairly reflected within the sector’s hierarchies.

It’s with this in mind that Better Cotton recently launched its 2030 Impact Target for Women’s Empowerment. Over the coming years, we aim to reach one million women in cotton with programmes and resources that promote equal farm decision-making, build climate resilience, or support improved livelihoods. What’s more, we commit to ensuring that 25% of field staff are women with the power to influence sustainable cotton production.

To achieve this, we’ll collaborate closely with leading organisations to create the environment for field-level change. Here, we speak to Nisha Onta, Regional Coordinator for Asia at WOCAN, to understand the topic’s complexities and obstacles preventing women from advancing their careers in cotton. Nisha is amongst four keynote speakers at this year’s Better Cotton Conference, taking place in Amsterdam from June 21.

Historically, what have been the barriers to access to training for women in sectors such as cotton farming? 

There are a lot of research findings which show that the major barrier for women to access training are time poverty, access to information and restrictions on mobility.

Time poverty simply means there is just not enough free time in the lives of women to add more training to their schedule. It is called the ‘triple burden’ of women. Women are responsible for productive, reproduction and communal roles. Therefore, in order to make sure we want to invite more women to train, organisers will have to provide childcare facilities, the timing of the training has to be reasonable for them and the training should address the triple burden so it is not adding to their already packed schedule of responsibilities.

Access to information is also critical, there are many instances that women are simply not aware of the availability of training or resources. Therefore, the usual mode of communication, such as sending training schedules to local representatives and news in the media might not reach the women we are trying to train. Perhaps using local women cooperatives and other mediums that are accessible to women could increase their participation.

Mobility issues can be due to cultural issues or simply the issue of infrastructure. If the training is scheduled for the evening but local safe transport is not available, for example. In some communities, women may not be allowed to travel to participate in trainings, then the organisers will have to use different strategies to convince the head of the households to give permission for the women to attend.

How influential will the provision of training for women be to increasing their representation in decision-making roles? 

Ensuring that there’s capacity for women to participate in decision-making is critical to increasing their representation. If the system is not designed to include women in leadership positions, no matter how much training is available, they’ll never have equal opportunities. Therefore, a systematic rethink is required to create the space for women to participate and influence the cotton sector they contribute so much to.

How important will support from organisations like Better Cotton be to enabling this shift within the sector? 

Organisations like Better Cotton can be catalysts to advance gender equality in the cotton sector. Better Cotton’s vast network touches millions of farmers around the world and this infrastructure will be important to driving changes at the field-level. Better Cotton’s Women’s Empowerment Impact Target will serve an important purpose to the sector if we’re to see women afforded the chances that have historically been set aside for men.

By 2030, what infrastructural changes would you like to see within agriculture to better support women? 

There needs to be the space for women to voice their opinion and influence the sector’s development through decision-making positions. There has to be more direct resources such as trainings, credit and grants for women led business.  These changes will inspire and impact future generations across agriculture and may also encourage the creation of more women-led businesses in the cotton value chain.

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Better Cotton Impact Targets: Q&A with Tamar Hoek, Better Cotton Council Member and Solidaridad’s Senior Policy Director for Sustainable Fashion

Photo Credit: Better Cotton/Eugénie Bacher. Harran, Turkey 2022. Cotton field.
Photo Credit: Tamar Hoek

Ninety-nine percent of the world’s cotton farmers are smallholders. And whilst production capacities per farmer may be small, together, they represent the bedrock of an entire industry, enabling its global reach.

With the launch of our recent 2030 Impact Target to promote Sustainable Livelihoods, we’re committed to increasing the net income and resilience of two million cotton farmers and workers.

It’s a bold ambition and one we won’t be able to reach without the support of a vast network of partners. In this Q&A, we hear from Better Cotton Council member and Solidaridad’s Senior Policy Director for Sustainable Fashion, Tamar Hoek, about the complexity of this topic and the role Better Cotton can play in supporting smallholders.

In supporting the development of Better Cotton’s Smallholder Livelihoods Impact Target, what issues were you and Solidaridad most keen to see the organisation address and how do you think its target will contribute to achieving this?

We are glad that Better Cotton decided to include net income and resilience for farmers as one of its targets. The livelihoods of farmers and farm workers depend on the price that is paid for the cotton but also on how capable the farmer is of dealing with uncertainties in production. For Solidaridad, the topic of living income has been high on our agenda for years. With the scale that Better Cotton brings, this new target can potentially lead to a higher income for a lot of farmers around the world, which is the first step towards a living income. The target will hopefully lead to appropriate tools for increasing net income, greater awareness in the value chain, best practices and income benchmarks that are needed to eventually scale the improvements.

With the scale that Better Cotton brings, this new target can potentially lead to a higher income for a lot of farmers around the world, which is the first step towards a living income.

What influence would increasing cotton farmers’ net income have on their ability to promote more sustainable agricultural practices and react to shocks and stressors in the market and the environment?

First of all, increasing a net income should give the farmer the opportunity to improve their livelihood, the situation of his/her family and to save for unexpected situations. Then, improvements can allow for payment of better wages and working conditions, the purchase of health and safety equipment, and perhaps investment into more sustainable pesticides and fertilisers. We all know that the price that is paid for cotton is not enough for all of these investments, both socially and environmentally. Therefore, the increase of the price – and with that the net income – is a start that will allow for a lot of improvements that are needed for more sustainable production. (Editor’s note: While Better Cotton strives for the collective improvement of sustainable livelihoods, our programmes have no direct influence over pricing or commercial activities)

Given Better Cotton’s global reach, can you discuss the potential for its Impact Target to address structural poverty which persists in the sector?

Hopefully, Better Cotton will join forces with other organisations in the industry to scale the impact of the target and collectively come to a living income demand for all cotton farmers in the world. Better Cotton will need to lobby with policymakers, local governments and other stakeholders in the value chain to make sure that the right enabling environment is in place to get rid of systemic issues. Addressing structural poverty is ambitious but that will not happen overnight with just raising the net income of a group of farmers and looking at their resilience. It eventually needs a whole value chain to change and, for that, Better Cotton needs to work collaboratively.

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What’s in Store For the Rest of 2023?

Photo Credit: Better Cotton/Morgan Ferrar. Location: Ratane village, Mecuburi District, Nampula Province. 2019. Cotton boll.

By Alan McClay, CEO of Better Cotton

Photo Credit: Jay Louvion. Headshot of Better Cotton CEO, Alan McClay in Geneva

Better Cotton made significant strides in 2022 towards our vision of a world where more sustainable cotton is the norm. From the unveiling of our new and improved reporting model to a record 410 new members joining in one year, we prioritised on-the-ground change and data-driven solutions. The development of our traceability system entered a new phase with the stage set for pilots to commence, and we secured funding of over 1 million EUR to continue our work for traceable Better Cotton.

We have continued this momentum into 2023, kicking the year off with our Programme Partner Meeting in Phuket, Thailand under the twin themes of climate change and smallholder livelihoods. Our commitment to knowledge sharing continued as we collaborated with ABRAPA, the Brazilian Association of Cotton Producers, to organise an Integrated Pest Management workshop in Brazil in February, with the aim of sharing research and innovative initiatives regarding the control of pests and diseases in the cotton crop. We are committed to supporting all efforts to reduce pesticide use.

As we approach the end of the first quarter of 2023, we’ve been taking stock of the current sustainability landscape and mapping out how we can best use our resources and expertise at Better Cotton to address the challenges and opportunities on the horizon.

Welcoming a new wave of industry regulation and introducing Better Cotton traceability

2023 is an important year for sustainability as a growing set of regulations and legislation are being implemented around the world. From the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles to the European Commission’s initiative on substantiating green claims, consumers and lawmakers have wised up to ambiguous sustainability claims like ‘zero emissions’ or ‘eco-friendly’ and are taking steps to make sure claims are verified. At Better Cotton, we welcome any legislation that supports a green and just transition and recognises all progress on impact including at field level.

Photo Credit: Better Cotton/Eugénie Bacher. Harran, Turkey, 2022. Cotton going through a ginning machine, Mehmet Kızılkaya Teksil.

In late-2023, following our supply chain mapping efforts, we will begin to roll out Better Cotton’s global traceability system. The system includes three new Chain of Custody models to physically track Better Cotton, an enhanced digital platform to record these movements, and a new claims framework which will give members access to a new Better Cotton ‘content mark’ for their products.

Our commitment to traceability will ensure Better Cotton Farmers, and particularly smallholders, can continue to access increasingly regulated markets, and we will drive significant growth in the volume of traceable Better Cotton. Over the coming years, we plan to create additional benefits for Better Cotton Farmers including local investment by providing direct connections with retailers, brands, and customers.

Optimising our approach and launching the remaining Better Cotton Impact Targets

In line with growing calls for evidence on sustainability claims, the European Commission has also issued new rules on corporate sustainability reporting. Most notably, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive came into force on 5 January 2023. This new directive introduces stronger reporting rules for companies operating in the EU and pushes for greater standardisation in reporting methodologies.

After more than 18 months of work, we announced a new and improved approach to our external reporting model at the end of 2022. This new model tracks progress over a multi-year timeframe and integrates new farm performance indicators aligned with the Delta Framework. In 2023, we will continue to share updates on this new approach in our Data & Impact blog series.

During the first half of 2023, we will also be launching the remaining four Impact Targets connected to our 2030 Strategy, focused onpesticide use (as mentioned above), women’s empowerment, soil health and smallholder livelihoods. These four new Impact Targets join our climate change mitigation target to complete our plan to make cotton better for the farmers who produce it and for all those who have a stake in the future of the sector, as well as for the environment. These progressive new metrics will allow better measurement and drive change across five key areas to ensure greater lasting economic, environmental and social benefits at the farm level for cotton-growing communities.

Unveiling our new Better Cotton Principles and Criteria

For the last two years, we have been revising the Better Cotton Principles and Criteria, which lay out the global definition of Better Cotton. As part of this revision, we are going further to integrate key components of regenerative agriculture, including core regenerative practices such as maximising crop diversity and soil cover while minimising soil disturbance, as well as adding a new principle on improving livelihoods.

We are nearing the end of our review process; on 7 February 2023, the draft P&C v.3.0 was officially approved for adoption by the Better Cotton Council. The new and improved Principles and Criteria are expected to be launched in the first half of 2023, followed by a transition year, and will come into full effect in the 2024-25 cotton season.

See you at the 2023 Better Cotton Conference

Last but not least, in 2023 we are looking forward to once again convening industry stakeholders at the 2023 Better Cotton Conference. This year’s conference will take place in Amsterdam (and virtually) on 21 and 22 June, exploring the most salient issues and opportunities in sustainable cotton production, building on some of the topics which we’ve discussed above. We are excited to gather our community and welcome as many of our stakeholders as possible at the conference. We hope to see you there.

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Better Cotton Welcomed Record Number of New Members in 2022

Photo Credit: Better Cotton/Seun Adatsi. Location: Kolondieba, Mali. 2019. Description: Freshly-picked cotton.

Despite a challenging economic environment, Better Cotton saw a significant increase in support in 2022 as it welcomed 410 new members, a record for Better Cotton. Today, Better Cotton is proud to count more than 2,500 members representing the entire cotton sector as part of our community.  

74 of the 410 new members are Retailer and Brand Members, who play a vital role in creating demand for more sustainable cotton. The new Retailer and Brand Members come from 22 countries – such as Poland, Greece, South Korea, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and more – highlighting the organisation’s global reach and the demand for change across the cotton sector. In 2022, the Better Cotton sourced by 307 Retailer and Brand Members represented 10.5% of world cotton, demonstrating the relevance of the Better Cotton approach to systemic change.

We are delighted to have 410 new members joining Better Cotton during 2022, showing recognition of the importance of Better Cotton’s approach to achieving transformation in the sector. These new members demonstrate their support for our efforts and commitment to our mission.

Members fall within five key categories: civil society, producer organisations, suppliers and manufacturers, retailers and brands and associate members. No matter the category, members are aligned on the benefits of sustainable farming and are committed to the Better Cotton vision of a world where more sustainable cotton is the norm and farming communities thrive.  

Below, read what a few of these new members think about joining Better Cotton:  

Through our social purpose platform, Mission Every One, Macy’s, Inc. is committed to creating a more equitable and sustainable future for all. Better Cotton’s mission of promoting better standards and practices within the cotton industry is integral to our goal of achieving 100% preferred materials in our private brands by 2030.

JCPenney is firmly committed to providing high-quality, affordable and responsibly sourced products for our customers. As a proud member of Better Cotton, we hope to drive industry-wide sustainable practices that improve lives and livelihoods around the world and further our mission of serving America’s diverse, working families. Our partnership with Better Cotton will better enable us to meet our customers’ expectations and deliver on our sustainable fiber goals.

Joining Better Cotton was important to Officeworks to promote responsible sourcing and help transform the global cotton industry, both from a human rights and an environmental perspective. As part of our People and Planet Positive 2025 commitments, we are committed to sourcing goods and services in more sustainable and responsible ways, including sourcing 100% of our cotton as Better Cotton, organic cotton, Australian cotton or recycled cotton for our Officeworks private label products by 2025.

As part of our All Blue sustainability strategy, we aim to expand our sustainable product collection and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. At Mavi, we prioritise not harming nature during production and ensuring that all of our All Blue design choices are sustainable. Our Better Cotton membership will help to raise awareness among our customers and within our own ecosystem. Better Cotton, with its social and environmental benefits, is included in Mavi’s definition of sustainable cotton and supports Mavi’s sustainability goals.

Learn more about Better Cotton Membership.   

Interested in becoming a member? Apply on our website or get in touch with our team at [email protected]

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Better Cotton Conference Registration Opens: Early Bird Tickets Available

We are pleased to announce that registration for the 2023 Better Cotton Conference is now open!    

The conference will be hosted in a hybrid format with both virtual and in-person options for you to choose from. Join us as we bring the global cotton community together once again. 

Date: 21-22 June 2023  
Location: Felix Meritis, Amsterdam, Netherlands or join us online 

Register now and take advantage of our exclusive early-bird ticket prices.

Attendees will have the opportunity to connect with industry leaders and experts to explore the most salient issues in sustainable cotton production such as climate change adaptation and mitigation, traceability, livelihoods and regenerative agriculture.

In addition, we’re delighted to host a Welcome Reception in the evening of Tuesday 20 June and a Conference Networking Dinner on Wednesday 21 June.  

Don’t wait – early bird registration ends on Wednesday 15 March. Register now and be a part of the 2023 Better Cotton Conference. We look forward to seeing you there! 

For more details, please visit the Better Cotton Conference website.


Sponsorship Opportunities

Thank you to all of our 2023 Better Cotton Conference sponsors!  

We have a number of sponsorship opportunities available, from supporting cotton farmers’ travel to the event, to sponsoring the conference dinner.

Please contact Events Manager Annie Ashwell at [email protected] to find out more. 


The 2022 Better Cotton Conference brought together 480 participants, 64 speakers and 49 nationalities.
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Investigating how textile waste could become nutrients for cotton crops

Textile waste is a global issue. An estimated 92 million tonnes of textiles are disposed of annually, with just 12% of the material used for clothing being recycled. Many clothes simply end up in landfill, where some release greenhouse gases. So what can be done to ensure precious natural fibres for clothing are recaptured and put to good use?

In Queensland, Australia, a partnership between stakeholders including the state government, Better Cotton Strategic Partners Cotton Australia and Sheridan, circularity expert Coreo, clothing charity Thread Together and Alcheringa cotton farm is exploring the potential to turn old cotton clothing into nutrients for new cotton plants. Cotton industry soil scientist and project participant Dr Oliver Knox, who presented the project in a ‘disruptors’ session at the Better Cotton Conference in June, explains how…


Dr Oliver Knox of UNE

What inspired you to address this issue?

In Australia, much of our soil landscape has low soil carbon, so anything we can do to feed and keep our soil biology alive will benefit us and the environment. It’s these microorganisms that drive the nutrient cycles we rely on to produce our crops, including cotton. We know that any leftover cotton fibre from the harvest breaks down in the soil between seasons. Meanwhile, we need action now to avoid clothing going to landfill, so we decided to explore whether end of life cotton products (primarily sheets and towels) could have the same impact, becoming a natural fertiliser for cotton.

Tell us how cotton clothing could help nourish the soil…

Within cotton products, cotton fibres have been spun into yarn and woven into fabric, so we need to assist the soil microbes in overcoming this ‘packaging challenge’ and understand the potential risk from dyes likely to have been used in clothing manufacture. Our trial at Goondiwindi showed that in all the soil where we applied cotton fabric, the microbiology responded positively. These microbes were effectively reacting to the cotton and breaking it down.

What have you done so far and why was collaboration important?

Circular economy projects always rely on collaboration between stakeholders. Having a diverse and passionate team behind this work with a wide range of skills has been essential in overcoming the numerous challenges involved. We sourced waste textiles from various sources, assessed and removed certain components, shredded them, overcame transport logistics issues, launched and monitored our trial, collated and dispatched samples, and pulled together reports.

Through our first trial, we monitored the impact of around two tonnes of shredded cotton on soil microbes on just under half a hectare, considering benefits such as carbon and water retention in soils and microbial activity. We also estimated that this trial offset 2,250kg of carbon emissions.

Importantly, we’ve confirmed it may be viable to scale up this approach, although there are still technical and logistics challenges to solve. That’s why this year we’re planning to undertake larger trials across two farms in two states, enabling us to divert ten times more textile waste from landfill this year. We’ll also be monitoring the soil and crops more closely with support from the Cotton Research and Development Corporation. It promises to be an exciting season.

What’s next?

We’ll continue checking that the breakdown of cotton will assist in promoting soil microbial function, encouraging water retention and managing weeds. We also want to be sure that we’re offsetting the potential methane production that would be associated with sending the material to landfill.

Longer term, we’d like to see this type of system adopted across Australia and beyond, and positive impacts for soil health and cotton yields and other soil health.

Dr. Oliver Knox is Associate Professor of Soil systems biology, University of New England (Australia)


Find out more

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What Is Soil Health? Better Cotton Launches New Soil Health Series

Soil is quite literally the foundation of farming. Without it, we could neither grow cotton nor support our growing global population. We know first-hand at Better Cotton that improved soil health can enhance productivity and yields, which also directly improves farmer incomes. Not only that, but many soil health management practices are also climate change mitigation measures. These measures stand to make a big impact when considering that global soils contain more carbon than vegetation and the atmosphere combined.

That’s why soil health is one of five impact targets that we are developing at Better Cotton as part of our 2030 Strategy, and an area we will be focusing our attention on over the coming weeks.

In our new Soil Health Series, we’re exploring the wonderful and complex universe beneath our feet, looking at why good soil health is so important and what Better Cotton, our partners and Better Cotton Farmers are doing to support healthy soils and the future of sustainable agriculture.

To kick off the series, we outline the five key factors that impact soil health. Learn more in the video above.

Look out for more content over the coming weeks, or visit our soil health webpage to learn more.

Learn more about Better Cotton and soil health

Take a look at the 2030 Strategy

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Better Cotton Launches Our New 2030 Strategy and Climate Change Mitigation Target

Better Cotton’s mission is to help cotton farming communities survive and thrive, while protecting and restoring the environment. Since 2009, Better Cotton has developed, tested and applied our Standard, whilst growing our reach to include 2.4 million licensed farmers around the world. Now is the time to deploy this scale to generate deeper impact.

Today, Better Cotton launches our 2030 Strategy, including a climate change mitigation target to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions per tonne of Better Cotton produced by 50% by 2030. This is the first of five ambitious targets to be set, with the remaining four expected to be released by the end of 2022.

These progressive new metrics will allow better measurement across five key areas to ensure greater lasting economic, environmental and social benefits at farm level for cotton growing communities.

We – together with Better Cotton Members and Partners – want to see real, measurable change on the ground in line with the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. We encourage continuous improvement at farm level, wherever cotton farmers are on their sustainability journey.

Headshots of Better Cotton CEO, Alan McClay, by Jay Louvion, in Geneva.

Learn more about our 2030 Strategy.

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Better Cotton Appears in Ecotextile News Speaking on Plans for a Physical Traceability Solution

On 8 December 2021, Ecotextile News published “Better Cotton plans €25m traceability system”, speaking to Alia Malik, Senior Director of Data and Traceability, and Josh Taylor, Senior Traceability Coordinator, about our collaboration across the sector and long-term plans for developing full physical traceability in the cotton supply chain.

Innovating towards full physical traceability

While we are learning from traceability solutions that exist, we also understand that achieving full physical traceability is a hugely ambitious, very complex piece of work that will require new approaches to suit the needs along the cotton supply chain. We have estimated that the project will require €25 million in funding over four years and launch by the end of 2023 to supplement the current mass balance system.

Better Cotton will launch a digital traceability platform. So we’re going to go for the great big innovation now.

Alia Malik, Better Cotton, Senior Director of Data and Traceability

Collaborating across the sector

Better Cotton has been working closely with a panel of retailers and brands since last year to understand how we may deliver traceability in a way most meaningful for our members and to facilitate the inclusion of producers in increasingly regulated international value chains by connecting the supply chain through traceability. We understand that continued collaboration will be essential to inspire, influence and learn from our partnerships.

ISEAL are very interested in this because, with the changing regulatory landscape, a lot of different standard systems outside of apparel, as well as in it, are looking at what tweaks they need to make to support better traceability. So it’s something that we have the opportunity to lead and to help shape for the sector.

Read the full Ecotextile News article, “Better Cotton plans €25m traceability system”.

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Takeaways from the Glasgow Climate Pact: COP26 and the Better Cotton Climate Approach

By Alan McClay, Better Cotton, CEO

One of the clear lessons from the UN Climate Change Conference or COP26 in Glasgow is that we won’t get anywhere without working together. On the other hand, if we do manage to engage in genuine collaboration, there is no limit to what we can achieve.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as imperfect as they may be, are a very powerful framework to enable better and deeper collaboration—between public, private and civil society actors—as they all steer us in the same direction. Through our climate change approach and five ambitious impact target areas, Better Cotton’s 2030 Strategy to be released in December supports 11 out of the 17 SDGs. As Glasgow showed us just how urgent and imperfect the collaboration to unite against climate change is and how we need to go further, we look at how the SDG framework and the Glasgow Climate Pact is supported by the Better Cotton Strategy.

Alan McClay, Better Cotton, CEO

Three Overarching Themes from the Glasgow Climate Pact and How Better Cotton’s 2030 Strategy and Climate Change Approach Supports Their Objectives

Prioritising Action Now

The Glasgow Climate Pact emphasises the urgency of scaling up climate action and support, including finance, capacity-building and technology transfer, in line with the best available science. Only if we do this can we collectively enhance our capacity for adaption, strengthen our resilience and reduce our vulnerability to climate change impacts. The agreement also underlines the importance of taking into account the priorities and needs of developing countries.

How Better Cotton’s 2030 Strategy Supports This: With the recent publication of our first-ever global greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) study conducted by Anthesis Group, we already have hard data that is enabling us to develop targeted emissions reduction pathways for Better Cotton’s many diverse local contexts. Now that we have established a baseline for Better Cotton GHG emissions, we are working to embed mitigation practices more deeply into our programmes and Principles and Criteria and further refine our monitoring and reporting methods. Details on our climate change approach and mitigation target will be shared as part of our 2030 Strategy.

The Ongoing Importance of Collaboration

How Better Cotton’s 2030 Strategy Supports This: Youth climate activists like Greta Thunberg have inspired millions of young people around the world to join their call for greater action on climate change. We have heard these calls at Better Cotton.

As we finalise our climate approach and 2030 strategy, we are leveraging our network and partnerships, but even more importantly, we are ensuring that farmers’ and farm workers’ needs are centred — particularly for women, young people, and other more vulnerable populations — through continued and enhanced dialogue. New approaches are being developed to hear directly from workers, for example, as we pilot worker voice technology in Pakistan. We’re focused on driving field-level innovations that can directly benefit these individuals, which is why we are drawing on our close to 70 field-level partners across 23 countries to design country-level action plans for both mitigation and adaptation. We are also engaging with new audiences, particularly global and national policymakers to advocate for change.

This article recognizes the important role of non-Party stakeholders, including civil society, indigenous peoples, local communities, youth, children, local and regional governments and other stakeholders, in contributing to progress towards the goals of the Paris Agreement.

A Just Transition That Actively Involves Marginalised Groups

The introduction to the Glasgow Climate Pact underscores the importance of ensuring the integrity of all ecosystems, the protection of biodiversity, and the importance of the concept of ‘climate justice’ when taking action to address climate change. Article 93 builds on that, urging Parties to actively involve Indigenous peoples and local communities in designing and implementing climate action.

How Better Cotton’s 2030 Strategy Supports This: In a video address at the close of COP26, United Nations Secretary General António Guterres acknowledged young people, Indigenous communities, female leaders and all those leading the ‘climate action army.’ At Better Cotton, we understand that cotton farmers and their communities are at the forefront of this ‘climate action army’ and will continue to serve them first and foremost. That’s why a ‘Just Transition’ is one of the three pillars of our climate approach.

We know that the impact of climate change will disproportionately affect those who are already disadvantaged — whether due to poverty, social exclusion, discrimination or a combination of factors. Throughout 2021, we have been talking directly to farmers and farm workers in India and Pakistan to better understand the challenges that they face and develop new strategies that prioritise the concerns and voices of smallholder cotton farmers, as well as farm workers and marginalised groups in farming communities.

Learn more about Better Cotton’s climate approach, including five impact target areas, when we launch our 2030 Strategy later this year.

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Keeping 1.5 Degrees within Reach: COP26 and the Better Cotton Climate Approach

The world has been watching as global leaders, experts and activists alike have been making their voices heard at the much-anticipated UN Climate Change Conference – COP26.

In a series of blogs throughout the event, we’ve been looking at how Better Cotton’s climate approach will guide greater action under three pathways — mitigation, adaptation and ensuring a just transition —and what that willmean in real terms for Better Cotton Farmers and partners. As COP26 draws to a close, we are zeroing in on the mitigation pathway, taking a closer look at the impact of cotton on the climate emergency.

Keeping 1.5 Degrees Within Reach

By Kendra Park Pasztor, Better Cotton, Senior Manager of Monitoring & Evaluation

The first COP26 goal — secure global net zero by mid-century and limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels — is without a doubt the most ambitious. It’s also our only option if we want to prevent the most catastrophic climate disasters from occurring. To achieve this goal, COP26 has called on countries to commit to ambitious 2030 emissions reductions targets.

What are Greenhouse Gas Emissions?

Greenhouse gases or GHGs include carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxides. Sometimes ‘carbon’ is used as shorthand for ‘GHG emissions.’ Generally, emissions are expressed in ‘carbon equivalent’ – CO2e.

At the same time, agriculture also has a central role to play in emissions reductions as forests and soil store large quantities of atmospheric carbon, and fertiliser application and power for irrigation systems are responsible for significant emissions. Recognising this, 26 nations at COP26 have already set out new commitments to create more sustainable and less polluting agricultural policies.

Understanding Better Cotton’s Contribution to Climate Change Mitigation

On average, Better Cotton production had a 19% lower emissions intensity per tonne lint than comparison production across China, India, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Turkey.

At Better Cotton, we are taking the cotton sector’s role in climate change mitigation seriously. In October of this year, we released our first report quantifying global greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) of Better Cotton and comparable production. This is an important first step that is helping us set our emissions reduction target in our 2030 Strategy.

The Better Cotton GHG study, conducted by Anthesis Group and commissioned by Better Cotton in 2021, found significantly lower emissions from Better Cotton-licensed farmers’ cotton production.

Another piece of analysis in the study assessed emissions from Better Cotton (or recognised equivalent) production constituting over 80% of licensed Better Cotton’s global production across Brazil, India, Pakistan, China and the US. This data is enabling us to develop targeted emissions reduction strategies for Better Cotton’s many local contexts.

Translating Data into Action: Setting Better Cotton’s 2030 Target

Anthesis’ study provided us with valuable insights that we are using — along with the latest climate science — to set a 2030 target for Better Cotton GHG emissions reduction, aligned with the UNFCCC Fashion Charter of which Better Cotton is a member. Now that we have established a baseline for Better Cotton GHG emissions, we can further refine our monitoring and reporting methods moving forward.

Learn More

Register to hear Kendra speak at the session “Achieving Ambitious Corporate Targets: How Can Sustainability Standards Contribute To Landscape Sourcing Area Climate And Sustainability Programmes?” taking place on 17 November at the Making Net-zero Value Chains Possible event.

Read Alan McClay’s blog on the importance of collaboration and Chelsea Reinhardt’s blog on enabling a just transition as part of our ‘COP26 and the Better Cotton Climate Approach’ blog series.

Learn more about Better Cotton’s climate approach, including key focus areas, when we launch Better Cotton’s 2030 Strategy later this year. Find more information on our focus on GHG emissions and our recently released study with Anthesis.

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