Better Cotton is the world’s leading sustainability initiative for cotton. Our mission is to help cotton communities survive and thrive, while protecting and restoring the environment.
In just over 10 years we have become the world’s largest cotton sustainability programme. Our mission: to help cotton communities survive and thrive, while protecting and restoring the environment.
Better Cotton is grown in 22 countries around the world and accounts for 22% of global cotton production. In the 2022-23 cotton season, 2.13 million licensed Better Cotton Farmers grew 5.47 million tonnes of Better Cotton.
Today Better Cotton has more than 2,700 members, reflecting the breadth and diversity of the industry. Members of a global community that understands the mutual benefits of sustainable cotton farming. The moment you join, you become part of this too.
The founding premise of Better Cotton is that a healthy sustainable future for cotton and the people that farm it is in the interests of everyone connected with it.
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Photo credit: Evronas/Better Cotton. Location: Better Cotton Conference, Istanbul, Türkiye, 2024. Description: Ali Ertuğrul, Technical and Quality Manager for Textiles and Recycling at USB Certification, at the Better Cotton Conference 2024.
In June, we held our annual Better Cotton Conference in Istanbul, Türkiye, bringing together over 400 attendees online and in-person for two days of highly insightful discussions on how to accelerate impact at field level.
The conference wouldn’t be possible without the generous support of our sponsors. This year, our headline sponsor was USB Certification, a global auditing and certification provider which aims to increase customers’ competitiveness and sustainability through national and international accreditations. It is also an approved third-party verifier for Better Cotton, authorised to carry out assessments against our Chain of Custody Standard.
During the conference, we sat down with Ali Ertuğrul, Technical and Quality Manager for Textiles and Recycling at USB Certification, to discuss why events like the Better Cotton Conference are so important for the company.
He explained USB Certification’s journey in the cotton sector, stressing the responsibility the organisation has to share the challenges they have faced and the lessons they have learned through their experiences with other actors in the sector in order to support collaborative change.
He also highlighted the importance of centring farmers in storytelling to increase understanding of the real-world impact of the decisions that are taken downstream in the supply chain:
People’s lives are at stake. The environment is at stake. So whatever we do, whatever action we take, we have to focus on this in the everyday work that we’re doing. And by we, I mean not only certification bodies, but also programme owners, brands, retailers, all the supply chain actors and also farmers and producers.
Lastly, he emphasised the role of policy in driving positive change in the cotton sector. “Policy changes are important because we, as private sector participants, can only do so much,” he noted, expressing his optimism about the growth of due diligence directives across the world.
To hear what Ali had to say in full, check out the video below.
Do you want to know what the largest cotton sustainability programme in the world is up to? Keep up to date with the latest developments and hear from BCI Farmers, Partners and Members in the new BCI Quarterly Newsletter. BCI Members also receive a Monthly Member Update.
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