In April 2024, Better Cotton was the focus of a report, published by the environmental non-profit, Earthsight, which highlighted issues in the cotton industry of Brazil’s Matopiba region.
Better Cotton commissioned an independent consultant to investigate potential non-compliances on selected farms. We subsequently published our statement and summary of findings, which did not detect any breach of the Better Cotton Standard on the licensed farms in question.
Two months on, Better Cotton has been notified that Earthsight intends to release a “second output”. This specific content has not been shared with Better Cotton. Earthsight contacted us on 6 June 2024 giving us the opportunity to comment on and clarify various points which we will detail in this document.
To reiterate, we welcome scrutiny from civil society organisations. Reports like Earthsight’s help identify instances where improvements can be made. We once again extend an invite to Earthsight to engage with us to learn more about our standard system and the approach we take at field level.
Our mission is to help cotton communities survive and thrive while protecting and restoring the environment, thereby delivering progressive, measurable improvements at field level. Our model focuses on impact, scale and industry uptake to enable all cotton farmers to transition to more sustainable production.
We recognise that challenges exist in many of the countries in which we operate. It is only with action and perseverance in the most challenging circumstances for cotton farming that transformative change at scale can be made, and we are proud of the progress we have helped deliver globally with our dedicated network of partners and members.
In the spirit of transparency, the full document below contains further details on our action plan, clarifications and follow-up explanations to our previously issued statement, as well as information about elements of the Better Cotton Standard System.
Earthsight: Better Cotton Action Plan Update
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