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Principles and Criteria Revision: How Our ISEAL Membership Helps Us Create More Effective Sustainability Requirements

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Principles and Criteria Revision: How Our ISEAL Membership Helps Us Create More Effective Sustainability Requirements

Joe Morphet on May 22, 2023

Photo Credit: Better Cotton/Baran Vardar. Harran, Turkey 2022. Cotton field.

By Natalie Ernst, Farm Sustainability Standards Manager at Better Cotton

At Better Cotton, we recently announced that we have completed the latest revision of our Principles and Criteria (P&C). The P&C is our farm-level standard, setting the licencing requirements that our over two million farmers worldwide have to comply with in order to sell their cotton as ‘Better Cotton’. It helps us to direct our efforts towards areas that deliver clear sustainability improvements at field level, and is a key driver in reaching our ambitious 2030 Strategy.

In 2021, we launched a substantive revision process of the Principles and Criteria. The aim was to align the P&C with global sustainability frameworks and respond to the market’s need for more stringent sustainability requirements, whilst also remaining realistic in our expectations at field level and further strengthening our approach to continuous improvement. We also wanted to ensure that we align with our 2030 Strategy, learnt from the past, filled gaps and retained successful elements of our past standard.

This revision was conducted in compliance with the Codes of Good Practice from ISEAL, a leading authority on sustainability standards. But what exactly is ISEAL, what is Better Cotton’s relationship with the organisation, and what impact did this have on the revision of the Principles and Criteria?

What is ISEAL?

ISEAL is an organisation that exists to support ambitious sustainability systems and their partners to tackle the world’s most pressing challenges. It has a growing global network, with members working across more than a hundred countries, in sectors from forestry and seafood to biomaterials and extractives.

The organisation’s Codes of Good Practice support sustainability systems to improve how they operate and deliver greater impact, while its Credibility Principles help businesses and governments make informed choices about the systems they work with, pushing the schemes to further improve.

What is Better Cotton’s relationship with ISEAL?

Better Cotton has been a very active and committed member of ISEAL since 2014. We are now a Code Compliant Member, a status which designates members who have successfully undergone independent evaluations against the ISEAL Codes of Good Practice in Standards-Setting, Assurance and Impacts. Other ISEAL Code Compliant Members include Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance, Forest Stewardship Council and Marine Stewardship Council.

What does our compliance with ISEAL mean for our P&C revision?

The P&C revision was carried out in compliance with the ISEAL Standard Setting Code of Good Practice v.6.0, which provides a ‘globally recognised framework, defining practices for effective and credible sustainability systems’. The ISEAL Standard Setting Code requires members to observe best practices to ensure the following among others:

  • Sound and clear standard setting procedures
  • Stakeholder inclusion and participatory consultation
  • Relevance and effectiveness of requirements
  • Transparency and record keeping
  • Consistency between standards and local applicability
  • Resolution of complaints

This mandatory evaluation of these requirements encourages members to really consider and implement good practices and recommendations, making the codes highly effective and credible.

The Standard Setting Code was an incredibly useful tool when it came to shaping the P&C revision, providing a clear and practical framework to ensure that the process was inclusive, transparent, and targeted.

In addition, the access that our ISEAL membership gives to other standard systems allowed us to gather information and learnings from other organisations working on similar projects, enabling us to exchange best practices and find out how others dealt with challenges in defining their requirements.

Similarly, ISEAL provided us with various sources of information, including webinars and publications, that we were able to tap into during the revision, covering both specific technical details and the role of standards more broadly.

Finally, following ISEAL’s code brings increased credibility and trust in our value chain. Stakeholders can have confidence in the fact that the process has been validated by an internationally recognised leader in sustainability standards.

In summary, our membership with ISEAL was a critical part of the revision of our Principles and Criteria, which has led to more effective sustainability requirements, increased credibility and greater ownership among our various stakeholders. To find out more about the revision, please click here.

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

Julia Thordsson on May 19, 2023

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 Offers Input on US Federal Trade Commission’s Green Guides

Julia Thordsson on May 15, 2023

Photo Credit: BCI/Seun Adatsi. Location: Kolondieba, Mali. 2019. Description: Aerial view of a field in a cotton farm.

Better Cotton has submitted feedback to the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as part of an ongoing review of its Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims (Green Guides).

The FTC is a bipartisan federal agency of the US government that champions the interests of American consumers. Its Green Guides framework was launched in 1992 to ensure that product sustainability claims made by companies are accurate and substantiated, with guidance updated intermittently to best reflect a modern context.

The guidance made available to companies covers general principles that apply to all environmental marketing claims, including information on how consumers are likely to interpret particular claims and how these can be substantiated, and how marketers can qualify their claims to avoid deceiving consumers.

As part of this latest review, Better Cotton has submitted feedback to ensure that the document considers an agricultural context and what constitutes progress at field-level.

Notably, one of the six components of the Better Cotton Standard System (BCSS) is our Claims Framework, through which we provide support to eligible members to communicate their commitment to Better Cotton in a clear, transparent and credible way.

The ability for Better Cotton Members to communicate about their financial investment in Better Cotton to consumers strengthens their commitment to our farm-level programmes which seek social, environmental and economic improvements for cotton farmers and farming communities.

Better Cotton is supportive of the FTC’s initiative, through its revised Guides, to establish a common framework through which US companies can ensure they communicate their sustainability efforts in a credible, verifiable and accurate manner.

In doing so, businesses benefit from a level playing field and are empowered to continually pursue bolder sustainability targets with the opportunity to relay such ambitions to an increasingly sustainability-conscious consumer base.

That said, to improve the guidance in its current form, Better Cotton considers that the FTC should continue to include examples of substantiation from a range of methods and avoid limiting substantiation to one standard methodology.

Establishing one single method as the standard methodology for the substantiation of claims such as lifecycle analysis (LCA) or product environmental footprints (PEF) would not be appropriate as, to date, there is no standard methodology available that can cover all relevant impact categories for all product types.

Moreover, LCA raises specific challenges when applied to an agricultural context. If this approach is adopted in the revised Guides, some of the most trusted and widely used sustainability schemes and their labels would effectively be unable to provide environmental marketing claims for their members.

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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

Julia Thordsson on May 12, 2023

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.

Tamar Hoek, Better Cotton Council member and Solidaridad’s Senior Policy Director for Sustainable Fashion

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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Carbon Insetting: What Is It, and How Does It Differ From Carbon Offsetting?

Joe Morphet on May 4, 2023

Photo Credit: Better Cotton/Vibhor Yadav. Location: Kodinar, Gujarat, India. 2019. Description: Cotton plant.
Photo credit: Nathanael Dominici

By Nathanael Dominici, Climate Change Manager at Better Cotton

A term that is regularly used in discussions around climate action is ‘carbon offsetting’, a practice by which a reduction or removal of greenhouse gas emissions is made in order to offset emissions created elsewhere. Through this mechanism, companies frequently compensate for their emissions by purchasing credits from an organisation that is implementing climate projects which generate certified credits, for example through reforestation.

However, a new term that is becoming more common in climate discourse is ‘carbon insetting’. What does this term mean, how does it differ from carbon offsetting, and what is Better Cotton doing in this space? Ahead of a session on carbon finance that we will be running at the Better Cotton Conference in June, let’s explore what carbon insetting means.

What Is Carbon Insetting?

Carbon insetting is similar to carbon offsetting, in the sense that it acts to reduce the impact of greenhouse gas emissions on the planet. However, the key difference is that while offsetting can often see harmful emissions offset by activities that aren’t linked to the original source of the emissions – such as a European airline paying for credits to finance reforestation in South America – carbon insetting instead refers to interventions that reduce the greenhouse gas emissions within a company’s own value chains.

Insetting promotes a more holistic view of the full lifecycle of a business’s activities, taking into account both upstream activities (e.g. the purchase of raw materials and transport) and downstream activities (e.g. product use and end of life). Through insetting, companies can partner with key stakeholders in their value chains to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to climate change mitigation targets.

Insetting interventions tend to be based on the implementation of climate-smart practices at farm level and with local communities. Minimising the use of synthetic inputs, installing drip irrigation systems and renewable energy technologies, minimising tillage practices and maximising cover and intercropping are all examples of activities that could generate insetting credits. There are also co-benefits of these interventions; through the conservation and restoration of landscapes, they both build climate resilience and create stability in a company’s supply chain.

Photo credit: International Platform for Insetting (IPI). Description: What is insetting? This image was developed by the International Platform for Insetting (IPI), a business-led organisation which advocates for climate action at the source of global value.

What Is Better Cotton Doing About Carbon Insetting?

At Better Cotton, we are working on developing our own carbon insetting framework to promote and incentivise sustainable agricultural practices, with the support of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI). Our belief is that insetting mechanisms can accelerate environmental and social progress, supporting smallholder livelihoods across our network.

Our aspiration is that our traceability system, due to launch later this year, will provide the backbone for this insetting mechanism. Once implemented, we aim to enable retailers and brands to find out which region the cotton they purchased was produced in, and to allow them to purchase credits that reward farmers and incentivise them to improve their field practices. To learn more about our work on traceability, head to this link.

We will be exploring carbon insetting further as part of a session on climate finance at the Better Cotton Conference 2023, taking place on 21 and 22 June in Amsterdam and online. One of the four key themes of the conference will be Climate Action, bringing together climate experts from a range of sectors to build on the discussions on climate action held at the Better Cotton Conference 2022. The Climate Action theme will be introduced by climate change and gender expert Nisha Onta, Regional Coordinator for Asia at WOCAN. To find out more about the Better Cotton Conference, head to this link.

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Data & Impact Series: How We Use Complementary Methods to Evaluate Impact

Joe Morphet on May 3, 2023

Photo Credit: Better Cotton/Morgan Ferrar Location: Şanlıurfa, Turkey. 2019 Description: Farm worker holding freshly picked cotton.

This is the second article in our Data & Impact series, where we explore Better Cotton’s data-driven approach to measuring and reporting impact. After looking at our new and improved reporting model, we are now shining a spotlight on how we evaluate impact.

We spoke to Eliane Augareils, Senior Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning Manager at Better Cotton, to find out more.

Photo credit: Better Cotton. Description: Eliane Augareils

Why is evaluation important for Better Cotton?

To ensure our programmes are making a difference and we are contributing substantially to more sustainable cotton production, we need to understand the environmental, social and economic impact of the Better Cotton Standard System. A key part of that is ensuring effective evaluation. Evaluation complements monitoring so that we can understand how and why changes do or don’t happen, and whether those changes can be attributed to the interventions of Better Cotton and its partners.

How does Better Cotton evaluate impact?

We use complementary research and evaluation methods, and work with independent organisations and researchers to assess field-level impacts. A diversity of approaches is required to effectively measure results and impact both at scale and in depth — as no single approach or methodology can meet all the needs for understanding the reach, efficiency, results, and ultimately impact, of a sustainability initiative.

How does the Better Cotton Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Programme work?

Our MEL Programme focuses on farm-level results, to measure what matters most according to our Theory of Change: continuous improvement of environmental, social and economic conditions in cotton cultivation.

Through our MEL Programme, we collect farm-level data over time to analyse the evolution of Better Cotton farmers in terms of practices, sustainable performance and results. Through third-party research, we aim to demonstrate that this evolution can be attributed fully or partially to Better Cotton’s interventions, and to quantify our contribution to positive change.

At Better Cotton, we are equally interested in demonstrating our contribution to change as we are in attributing that change to Better Cotton interventions.

Which complementary evaluation methods does Better Cotton use?

We work in parallel on three levels of monitoring & evaluation: programme-wide monitoring, sampled monitoring, and research.

Programme-wide monitoring

The first element of our MEL Programme is programme-wide monitoring, through which we capture information, self-reported by farmers, on Better Cotton’s reach. This information includes the total number of Better Cotton Farmers, the number of hectares under cultivation and the volumes of Better Cotton produced. By measuring this reach data, we can assess the progress that we are making towards reaching our vision of a world where all cotton farming is sustainable.

Sampled monitoring

We also collect data from a sample of Better Cotton Farmers to assess their socioeconomic and environmental performance. We use these farm-level results to see whether the Better Cotton Farmers are achieving better performance results after joining a Better Cotton programme.

Going forward, rather than reporting on results in one season as we have done in the past (comparing the results from Better Cotton Farmers and non-Better Cotton Farmers in one given season), we are now starting to report on the performance of Better Cotton Farmers over a multi-year timeframe. This approach, combined with enhanced contextual reporting, will bring improved transparency and strengthen the sector’s understanding of local cotton-growing conditions and national trends. It will also help us confirm whether Better Cotton Farmers are improving over an extended period. To read more about this, check out the previous blog in this series.

Research

Finally, Better Cotton commissions independent studies to collect and analyse data from Better Cotton Farmers, and sometimes from non-Better Cotton Farmers as well. These studies use a mix of quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Qualitative or mixed approaches allow us to hear in the farmers’ own words whether and how they feel that their participation in Better Cotton programmes is leading to positive change for them.

The comparison of Better Cotton Farmers’ and non-Better Cotton Farmers’ results at different points in time allows the researchers to identify and quantify the impact of Better Cotton’s interventions.

For example, between 2019 and 2022, Wageningen University conducted a study on Better Cotton’s impact in India. You can find more research papers on the ‘Demonstrating Results and Impact’ page of the Better Cotton website, under the ‘Independent Research and Evaluation’ section.

Depending on the needs and resources at hand, Better Cotton also commissions:

  • Outcome Evaluations: usually collecting baseline and endline data from Better Cotton Farmers, either for a specific project or across several Programme Partners.
  • Case Studies: using a smaller sample size to look at a specific topic or research question, using mostly qualitative or mixed approaches.

Lastly, we regularly provide farm-level (anonymised) data and give interviews to academic researchers or other research organisations that conduct independent research on sustainable cotton production.

How does Better Cotton ensure its evaluation is effective?

Next to our own internal policies and processes for monitoring and evaluation, the Better Cotton Standard System has also been independently evaluated against ISEAL’s Codes of Good Practice.

Being ISEAL Code Compliant, alongside other sector leaders such as Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance, means we are meeting rigorous international standards for monitoring and evaluation. We are committed to gradually improving the way we measure and report our progress and demonstrate our impact, investing in the reliability of the data we collect and in the robustness of our evaluation methods.

Find out more about our approach to Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning here.

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Antonie Fountain, Managing Director of VOICE Network, Announced as Final Keynote Speaker for Better Cotton Conference 2023

Joe Morphet on April 27, 2023

Better Cotton today announces that Antonie Fountain, Co-Founder and Managing Director of the VOICE Network, will give a keynote speech introducing the theme of Livelihoods at the Better Cotton Conference 2023, taking place on 21 and 22 June in Amsterdam and online.

Phot credit: Antonie Fountain

Antonie heads up the VOICE Network, a global association of civil society organisations working in sustainable cocoa. Tackling issues such as poverty, deforestation and child labour, the VOICE Network’s vision is a sustainable cocoa sector in which all stakeholders are able to earn a living income, under decent working conditions, where human rights are respected, and within a thriving and healthy environment.

A key spokesperson for civil society in cocoa, Antonie has been actively advocating a sustainable cocoa sector for almost two decades. He is the author of numerous publications on cocoa sustainability, and the chief editor of the Cocoa Barometer, a biennial overview of the sustainability challenges and opportunities in the cocoa sector.

Antonie is also the civil society advisor to the European Commission’s ‘Sustainable Cocoa Initiative’, the civil society representative to the United Nations’ International Cocoa Organisation Consultative Board, and sits on the Advisory Board of the Living Income Community of Practice.

Focusing on the incomes and well-being of smallholder farmers, Antonie will draw on his experiences in the cocoa sector to provide conference attendees with learnings that can be applied to a range of sectors, including cotton. He will explore key livelihoods challenges and discuss tried and tested approaches to finding solutions.

Livelihoods is one of four key themes at the Better Cotton Conference 2023, along with Climate Action, Regenerative Agriculture, and Data and Traceability. These four themes reflect key priorities from Better Cotton’s 2030 Strategy, and each will be introduced by a keynote speech from an internationally recognised sector thought leader.

We have previously announced the three other keynote speakers for the Better Cotton Conference 2023. Nisha Onta, Regional Coordinator for Asia at WOCAN, will open the conference with a speech introducing the theme of Climate Action, Maxine Bédat, Director of New Standard Institute, will introduce Data and Traceability, and Felipe Villela, Co-Founder of reNature, will give a keynote on the theme of Regenerative Agriculture.

Thank you to all our Better Cotton Conference sponsors! If you are interested in exploring our sponsorship packages, please contact [email protected]

To find out more about the Better Cotton Conference 2023 and sign up for tickets, head to this link. For more information, please contact [email protected]

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‘Assess and Address’: Better Cotton’s Revised Approach on Decent Work

Joe Morphet on April 26, 2023

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

By Amanda Noakes, Senior Global Decent Work and Human Rights Coordinator at Better Cotton

Underpinning everything we do at Better Cotton is the recognition that Better Cotton is only ‘better’ if it improves the wellbeing of farmers and their communities. That’s why ‘Decent Work’ – productive work that offers social protection, equal opportunities, freedom, security and human dignity – is a central focus of our programme, and the most substantially strengthened principle in our newly revised farm-level standard.

‘Assess and Address’ Criteria in Better Cotton’s New Decent Work Principle

Highlighting the importance of this area for Better Cotton and its growing recognition in the wider legislative landscape, our updated criteria on Decent Work reflects our ambitious new goals to drive even more positive change for farming households, workers and communities. Within the framework of our new Decent Work principle, we are transitioning away from a traditional zero-tolerance model – adopted by many certifications worldwide – and towards an ‘assess and address’ approach, which treats producers and farming communities as partners in improving practices and protection systems.

The ‘assess and address’ framework developed and rolled out by Rainforest Alliance, in particular, has served as a key reference for Better Cotton. At its core, ‘assess and address’ moves away from cut-and-run, punitive measures for certificate-holders who are not in compliance with criteria, which has historically eroded trust among stakeholders and driven key issues like child labour underground.

Photo Credit: Better Cotton/Morgan Ferrar. Location: Ratane village, Mozambique, 2019. Description: Amelia Sidumo (Better Cotton Staff) with teachers and children at Ratane Elementary School and SANAM Staff, talking to children and their parents about the risks of working at their age.

Instead, it aims to work together with producers and communities to tackle the root causes of human and labour rights challenges, holistically and collaboratively. It also puts a greater emphasis on supporting and investing in field-level systems and stakeholder collaboration to prevent, mitigate, identify and address issues, so that responsibility and accountability are locally owned and shared. In a nutshell, the approach aims to support better identification and mitigation of risks, as well as improved case management capabilities. It will also bring greater farm-level emphasis on prevention and protection, driven by genuine commitment, communication and continuous monitoring.

Better Cotton’s revised Principles and Criteria (P&C), coming into effect in 2024, have the most comprehensive and nuanced set of labour indicators yet. One of the primary new indicators that has embodied the ‘assess and address’ approach is a requirement on participatory development and roll-out of effective labour monitoring and grievance handling systems at producer level. This will include the establishment of clear referral and remediation procedures in case of identification of rights violations.

In addition to this, greater emphasis on building rights awareness of farm workers, but also producers (smallholders in particular), in our revised Standard is also a key step forward.

The Potential Challenges and Limitations of ‘Assess and Address’

At Better Cotton, we recognise that the ‘assess and address’ approach is still relatively new, and as with any new approach, will need to be further tested and refined over the coming years. It is also an approach that will increasingly demand support from our valued members and partners, through field-level investment and expansion of knowledge partnerships with expert organisations specialising in human rights.

We hope to work together with our members, partners and other key stakeholders to test innovative systems and approaches to some of the most endemic and persistent challenges in the cotton sector today. Multi-stakeholder dialogue around sourcing, pricing, supply chain and purchasing practices all also have a critical role to play in moving the sector in a more equitable direction. As human rights due diligence legislation continues to evolve globally, such initiatives will be fundamental to ensure our common vision of more sustainable and responsible supply chains is met. We invite all to join us on this journey.

Discover the new Better Cotton Principles and Criteria

See how Better Cotton promotes Decent Work
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Better Cotton Announces myBetterCotton, New Member Portal Launching in 2023

Joe Morphet on April 26, 2023

Better Cotton today announces that it will be launching myBetterCotton, a new portal for Better Cotton Members, later this year. Access to the portal will be granted to Members in a phased rollout, starting mid-2023 and continuing throughout the rest of the year.

The myBetterCotton portal has been created in order to improve the Better Cotton membership experience, taking into account the responses from our 2022 Member Feedback Survey. The new portal will provide a platform for Members to connect, collaborate and network, whilst making it easier for them to engage with Better Cotton.

The myBetterCotton portal is built around four key areas:

  • ‘My Membership’ – empowering Members to take control of their organisation’s information and keep it updated, this section will map out the onboarding process and allow Members to review and manage open or pending actions.
  • ‘My Community’ – a space for Members to engage, collaborate and network online. Direct chat and discussion group features will offer Members the opportunity to share opinions, discuss news and talk about their successes and challenges with one another. Members will also be able to view events and webinars and register to attend.
  • ‘My Sourcing’ – where Retailer and Brand Members can explore sourcing guidance, submit their cotton consumption and review their goals, and keep up to date with their progress towards meeting targets.
  • ‘My Claims’ – allowing Members to explore claims guidance and facilitate submissions of marketing and communications materials for review. Members will be able to review any claims they submitted previously.

myBetterCotton is our new and exciting meeting place for Members to network and learn more about Better Cotton. Our vision is that it will help newcomers to Better Cotton blossom into seasoned Members who promote Better Cotton and believe in our mission to improve farmer livelihoods and the environment. We will share regular updates and moderate your insightful discussions and look forward to welcoming you online over the course of 2023.

Paula Lum Young Bautil, Director, Membership & Supply Chain at Better Cotton

Members will receive more information about myBetterCotton, including when they can expect to receive access to the portal, by email in the coming months.

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Introducing the Better Cotton Chain of Custody Standard: Register for Upcoming Webinar

Joe Morphet on April 25, 2023

Photo Credit: Better Cotton/Baran Vardar. Harran, Turkey 2022. Cotton field.

Better Cotton is today announcing that on 10 May we will host a webinar to celebrate our next step towards making tracing physical Better Cotton a reality. On that date, we will publish a revised version of the Better Cotton Chain of Custody Guidelines, renamed as the Chain of Custody Standard.

As defined by ISEAL, a chain of custody is the ‘custodial sequence that occurs as ownership or control of the material supply is transferred from one custodian to another in the supply chain’. From the farmers who grow Better Cotton to the companies that source it, the Better Cotton Chain of Custody (CoC) is the documentation and evidence of Better Cotton as it moves through the supply chain.

Up until now, our CoC Guidelines allowed two chain of custody models: product segregation between the farm and gin, and mass balance beyond the gin (read more about these models here). The new CoC Standard will continue to offer this combination, but also introduce the opportunity to implement physical chain of custody models across the whole supply chain. This will make it possible for our Members to source physical Better Cotton alongside mass balance.

Better Cotton has been revising its Chain of Custody Guidelines, the key framework which connects demand with the supply of Better Cotton, since July 2021. As part of the revision of the Guidelines, an extensive research and consultation process has taken place, involving Better Cotton stakeholder groups as well as external experts in the field. This included surveying over 1,500 Better Cotton suppliers, commissioning two independent research studies, convening an industry task force with Member Suppliers and Retailers and Brands, and multiple stakeholder workshops.

The revision was incentivised by the increased demand for tracing physical Better Cotton, which requires the introduction of physical chain of custody models alongside mass balance. The new CoC Standard will introduce physical segregation and controlled blending as additional chain of custody models, creating the opportunity for our members to trace physical Better Cotton whilst also continuing to use the mass balance model.

The Chain of Custody Standard v 1.0 will be introduced by a webinar to provide further information on key updates and changes to the previous CoC Guidelines. The webinar will be hosted on 10 May 2023 and take place in two sessions to accommodate different time zones. The CoC Standard document will be published on the same date on our website.

To find out more, we encourage all Better Cotton Members and stakeholders to register for the webinar on 10 May using one of the following links*:

• Session 1: 08:00 – 09:00 (UTC+1) Registration link
• Session 2: 15:00 – 16:00 (UTC+1) Registration link

*Please note that both sessions include the same content, so there is no need to attend both.

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