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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Location: Khujand, Tajikistan. 2019. Description: Better Cotton Farmer Sharipov Habibullo delivers training to neighbouring farmers.
Together with longstanding partner IDH, The Sustainable Trade Initiative, Better Cotton has launched a new Innovation & Learning Project to seek solutions that will help Better Cotton and its Implementing Partners accelerate positive impact for cotton farmers around the world.
The Innovation & Learning Project addresses three key areas:
Focus area 1: How can Better Cotton make progress towards its 2030 strategy impact areas?
What we are looking for: Solutions that will help strengthen and make progress towards Better Cotton’s five impact areas for 2030: soil health, women’s empowerment, smallholder livelihoods, pesticides and toxicity, and climate change mitigation.
Focus area 2: How can Better Cotton support farmers adapting their lives to a changing climate?
What we are looking for: Solutions that can help us to identify, modify, and replicate (at scale) relevant climate change adaptation practices, particularly among smallholder farmers.
Focus area 3: How can Better Cotton learn more about the quality of training delivered to farmers?
What we are looking for: Solutions that can help Better Cotton and our Implementing Partners to set up strong monitoring and evaluation systems with feedback loops going back to farmers.
Proposals for any one of the three themes above may include new operational processes, field interventions, behavioural insights, or ways of delivering programme activities in such a way that it benefits more cotton farmers. Innovation also includes taking existing approaches and applying them in new ways, in new regions or in new contexts.
At Better Cotton, we are focused on delivering real impact for cotton farmers and farming communities around the world. This means continuously improving our practices, while looking for innovative solutions to cotton farming challenges. We are delighted to launch this new project in collaboration with IDH and encourage those with experience and expertise in the project focus areas to submit a proposal.
Cristina Martin Cuadrado, Programme Manager, Better Cotton
This call for proposals is open to existing Better Cotton Implementing Partners and external organisations. The deadline for submissions is 29 October 2021.
A new report published by Transformers Foundation investigates the use – and misuse – of data on the sustainability of the cotton sector, and aims to equip brands, journalists, NGOs, consumers, suppliers and others with the skills and understanding to use data accurately and transparently.
The report, Cotton: A Case Study in Misinformation debunks some of the commonly-shared ‘facts’ about cotton and textile production, such as the idea that cotton is an inherently ‘thirsty crop’, or the amount of water required to create a t-shirt. It also addresses commonly-cited claims about the use of pesticides in cotton farming. In both cases – water and pesticides – the report aims to provide current and accurate claims along with advice on how to use them without misleading audiences.
Damien Sanfilippo, Better Cotton’s Senior Director, Programmes contributed to the report and is quoted throughout:
“Everybody has an interest in data. And that’s good, because it means that everybody has an interest in sustainable development. But using data correctly is a skill. Right? And it needs to be done in a scientific manner.”
Damien Sanfilippo, Senior Director, Programmes at Better Cotton
The authors end with a set of calls-to-action, including to:
Send in information and new data to the foundation
Make data about environmental impacts open-source and publicly available
Today, on World Cotton Day, we are happy to be celebrating the farming communities around the world that provide us with this essential natural fibre.
The social and environmental challenges we came together to address in 2005, when Better Cotton was founded, are even more urgent today, and two of those challenges — climate change and gender equality — stand to be the key issues of our time. But there are also clear actions we can take to solve them.
When we look at climate change, we see the scale of the task ahead. At Better Cotton, we are drawing up our own climate change strategy to help farmers deal with these painful effects. Importantly, the strategy will also address the cotton sector’s contribution to climate change, which The Carbon Trust estimates at 220 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year. The good news is that the technologies and practices to address these issues are already there — we only need to put them in place.
Cotton and climate change – an illustration from India
Photo Credit: BCI/Florian Lang
Location: Surendranagar, Gujarat, India. 2018.
Description: BCI Lead Farmer Vinodbhai Patel (48) in his field. While many farmers are burning the weed stubble, which is left on the field, Vinoodbhai is leaving the remaining stalks. The stalks will later get ploughed into the earth to increase the biomass in the soil.
At Better Cotton, we’ve witnessed the disruption that climate change brings first-hand. In Gujarat, India, Better Cotton Farmer Vinodbhai Patel struggled for years with low, irregular rainfall, poor soil quality and pest infestations on his cotton farm in the village of Haripar. But without access to knowledge, resources or capital, he, along with many other smallholder farmers in his region, relied partially on government subsidies for conventional fertilisers, as well as credit from local shopkeepers to buy traditional agro-chemical products. Over time, these products only degraded the soil further, making it harder to grow healthy plants.
Vinodbhai now uses exclusively biological fertilisers and pesticides to produce cotton on his six-hectare farm — and he is encouraging his peers to do the same. By managing insect-pests using ingredients sourced from nature — at no cost to him — and planting his cotton plants more densely, by 2018, he had reduced his pesticide costs by 80% compared to the 2015-2016 growing season, while increasing his overall production by over 100% and his profit by 200%.
The potential for change becomes even greater when we factor women into the equation. There’s mounting evidence that shows the relationship between gender equality and climate change adaptation. In other words, we are seeing that when women’s voices are elevated, they make decisions that benefit everyone, including driving the adoption of more sustainable practices.
Gender Equality – an illustration from Pakistan
Photo Credit: BCI/Khaula Jamil.
Location: Vehari District, Punjab, Pakistan, 2018.
Description: Almas Parveen, BCI Farmer and Field Facilitator, delivering a BCI training session to BCI Farmers and Farm-workers in the same Learning Group (LG). Almas is discussing how to select the correct cotton seed.
Almas Parveen, a cotton farmer in the Vehari district of Punjab, Pakistan is familiar with these struggles. In her corner of rural Pakistan, entrenched gender roles mean women often have little opportunity to influence farming practices or business decisions, and female cotton workers are often restricted to low paid, manual tasks, with less job security than men.
Almas, however, was always determined to overcome these norms. Since 2009, she’s been running her family’s nine-hectare cotton farm herself. While that alone was remarkable, her motivation didn’t stop there. With support from our Implementing Partner in Pakistan, Almas became a Better Cotton Field Facilitator to enable other farmers — both men and women — to learn and benefit from sustainable farming techniques. At first, Almas’ faced opposition from members of her community, but in time, the farmers’ perceptions changed as her technical knowledge and sound advice resulted in tangible benefits on their farms. In 2018, Almas increased her yields by 18% and her profits by 23% compared to the previous year. She also achieved a 35% reduction in pesticide use. In the 2017-18 season, the average Better Cotton Farmer in Pakistan increased their yields by 15%, and reduced their pesticide use by 17%, in comparison to non-Better Cotton Farmers.
The issues of climate change and gender equality serve as powerful lenses with which to view the current state of the cotton sector. They show us that our vision of a sustainable world, where cotton farmers and workers know how to cope — with threats to the environment, low productivity and even limiting societal norms — is within reach. They also show us that a new generation of cotton farming communities will be able to make a decent living, have a strong voice in the supply chain and meet growing consumer demand for more sustainable cotton.
The bottom line is that transforming the cotton sector is not the work of one organisation alone. So, on this World Cotton Day, as we all take this time to listen and learn from each other, reflecting on the importance and role of cotton around the world, I’d like to encourage us to band together and leverage our resources and networks.
Together, we can deepen our impact and catalyse systemic change. Together, we can make the transformation to a sustainable cotton sector — and world — a reality.
Better Cotton has launched an ambitious revision of the Better Cotton Principles & Criteria –one of the key instruments of the Better Cotton Standard System, which work together to drive the cotton sector towards a more sustainable, more equitable and climate-friendly future.
TheBetter Cotton Principles & Criteria lay out the global definition of Better Cotton through seven guiding principles. Today, the principles are applied by more than 2.7 million cotton farmers around the world. By following these principles, farmers produce cotton in a way that is measurably better for themselves, their communities, and the environment.
Strengthening the Standard
The revision process aims to strengthen the Better Cotton Principles & Criteria to ensure they continue to meet best practice, are effective and locally relevant, and align with Better Cotton’s 2030 Strategy. Over the last five years, we have seen increasing focus on areas such as climate change, decent work, and soil health, and the Principles & Criteria revision is an opportunity to ensure the Better Cotton Standard System aligns with leading practice and supports our ambitions to drive field-level change.
At Better Cotton, we believe in continuous improvement – not only for Better Cotton Farmers, but for ourselves as well. In line with codes of good practices for voluntary standards, we periodically review the Better Cotton Principles & Criteria. This helps to ensure we keep up with innovative agricultural and social practices, and the latest scientific and technological research.
Chelsea Reinhardt, Director of Standards and Assurance.
The revision process will include extensive consultation and engagement from all Better Cotton stakeholders, from producers and worker representatives to technical experts, other cotton initiatives, and retailers and brands. The revision process is expected to run from October 2021 through to early 2023.
Get involved
Join a working group
The revision process will be supported by several technical working groups, who will work closely with Better Cotton to revise the current sustainability indicators within the Principles & Criteria. If you have expertise in one of the thematic areas below and are familiar with the Better Cotton programme and Principles & Criteria, we invite you to apply to be a part of a working group.
Decent Work & Gender
Crop Protection
Natural Resources Management
Learn more and apply for one of the working groups via the dedicated revision webpage.
Stay informed through public consultations
There will be a public consultation period in late 2022. More details will be communicated to interested stakeholders closer to the consultation period.
If you would like to be kept up to date with the revision process, or contribute to the public consultation process, please submit your email address through the revision webpage.
If you have any questions or would like to learn more about the revision process, please contact the Better Cotton Standards Team at: standards@bettercotton.org.
On 4 October 2021, Ecotextile News published “Can cotton cool climate change?”, exploring the role cotton growing plays in climate change. The article looks closely at Better Cotton’s climate strategy and draws from an interview with Lena Staafgard, COO, and Chelsea Reinhardt, Director of Standards and Assurance, to understand how we plan to impact climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Accelerating the pace of change
With Better Cotton’s recent study on GHG emissions commissioned with Anthesis and our work with Cotton 2040, we now have better information to identify the areas contributing most to emissions and which regions will be most affected by climate change. Our existing Standard and programmes implemented on-the-ground by partners and farmers across the Better Cotton network currently address these issue areas. But we need to act fast to build on what already exists to deepen our impact.
What we are looking to do really is to refine our focus and accelerate the pace of change, to have a deeper impact in those particular areas that are the big drivers of emissions.
– Chelsea Reinhardt, Director of Standards and Assurance
Collaborating across the cotton sector
The recent Cotton 2040 study shows that half of all cotton growing areas are at high risk of extreme weather conditions in the coming decades, and we have the opportunity to take action in these regions with our potential to convene relevant stakeholders. There are challenges in providing solutions that are relevant to localised conditions, so we are using our nuanced understanding of these issues and are in a position to address them with appropriate strategies through the network we have. Ensuring we bring smallholder and large farm contexts into our approach is important.
We should be able to get there, but it’s going to be difficult and it’s going to require a lot of collaboration, pulling in the technology and the knowledge we have at the large farms and finding ways of making it available at smallholder level where so much of the world’s agriculture takes place.
Lena Staafgard, COO
Better Cotton is in a position where we have the resources and network to collaborate towards change. Join our upcoming Member-Only Webinar to learn more about Better Cotton’s 2030 Strategy on Climate Change.
By Chelsea Reinhardt, Director, Standards & Assurance
Regenerative agriculture seems to be on everyone’s radar these days. From new regenerative agriculture certifications to sourcing commitments from big brands, the concept is gaining traction.
Chelsea Reinhardt
Many regenerative practices are already woven into the Better Cotton Standard System, and as the research and conversations around regenerative agriculture evolve, we are working to deepen our impact along with it.
Below, we discuss regenerative agriculture as it relates to Better Cotton — from how we define it to our approach moving forward.
What is Regenerative Agriculture?
While there is currently no universally accepted definition of regenerative agriculture, it is generally related to practices that promote soil health and restore organic carbon in the soil. These practices may include reducing tilling (no-till or low-till), use of cover crops, complex crop rotation, rotating livestock with crops and avoiding or minimising the use of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides — practices that have the potential to turn agricultural soil into a net carbon sink.
Regenerative Agriculture in the Better Cotton Standard
We don’t currently use the term ‘regenerative agriculture’ in the Better Cotton Standard. However, what is considered regenerative agriculture today is aligned with many of the sustainable farming practices that form the basis of our Standard. Our on-the-ground Implementing Partners in 23 countries around the world support farmers to implement these practices, which can be found throughout the Better Cotton Principles and Criteria.
Regenerative Agriculture in the Better Cotton Principles and Criteria
Principle 3 on Soil Health: Better Cotton Farmers are required to implement a multi-year soil management plan which covers enhancing soil structure, soil fertility and improving nutrient cycling, which includes processes such as breaking down of organic matter and soil respiration that facilitates uptake of soil nutrients like carbon, nitrogen and phosphorous. Farmers are encouraged and supported to identify practices that are most appropriate to their local context. These typically include cover cropping, crop rotation, mulching and other regenerative methods.
Principle 4 on Biodiversity and Land Use: Better Cotton Farmers must adopt a biodiversity management plan which explicitly encourages crop rotation and the restoration of degraded areas.
Other Better Cotton Principles: Due to the interconnected nature of sustainable farming practices, regenerative agriculture practices are embedded within other principles as well. For example, principle one on crop protection introduces an Integrated Pest Management Programme to help farmers reduce their pesticide use and principle two on water stewardship details soil moisture practices such as mulching and cover cropping.
How We’re Diving Deeper into Regenerative Agriculture for Greater Impact
While we recognise the value of regenerative agriculture practices and support the growing awareness of the role of farming in combatting climate change, we are cautious about making promises about soil carbon contributions while the science in this area is still evolving. For example, although no-till agriculture has been shown to improve carbon sequestration in the short term in many cases, in the long term, the outcomes are less certain. Some studies have shown that even periodic ploughing can reverse years of carbon benefits. Other research points to mixed impacts on soil organic carbon, depending on the content and depth of the soil layer.
Regardless of the long-term carbon benefits of regenerative agriculture, we will continue to focus on supporting farmers to improve their soil health. This is crucial to enhance long-term soil fertility, reduce erosion and adapt to climate change. It also plays a key role in improving yields and livelihoods for farming communities.
What’s Next
Climate-smart agriculture practices will play a more prominent role in the Better Cotton Standard after an upcoming revision of the Better Cotton Principles and Criteria. They will also feature strongly in our 2030 Strategy and connected climate change strategy, which will cover how Better Cotton Farmers and communities can become more resilient by mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change, reducing carbon emissions and measuring their progress.
An approach of continuous improvement is at the heart of both regenerative agriculture and our 2030 Strategy. To that end, we are currently in the process of finalising outcome targets and associated indicators to act as drivers of change for Better Cotton Farmers. The outcome target issue areas will likely include climate change mitigation and soil health. These targets will enable progress to be measured towards the Better Cotton mission and incentivise farmers to find new ways to enrich the environment in and around their farms.
Stay tuned — we will be sharing more information on these targets and launching our 2030 Strategy at the end of the year.
I am very excited to be elected as a member of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition Board of Directors, where I will join leaders and experts from brands, retailers, manufacturers, NGOs, government, academia, and more in guiding the direction of the organisation for exponential impact. As a member of the Board, I will be joining a diverse set of stakeholders to drive systemic change across the consumer goods industry. I am proud to join my peers and fellow sustainability champions as we join together to help the SAC achieve their vision of an industry that gives more than it takes — to the planet and its people.
Lena Staafgard, COO, Better Cotton
Last month, Lena Staafgard, COO of Better Cotton was elected to sit as a Director on the Sustainable Apparel Coalition Board (SAC) representing the Affiliate Category of the SAC Membership. The SAC is a global, multi-stakeholder non-profit alliance for the fashion industry. In this position, Lena will work closely with the SAC Leadership Team and other members of the board to drive impact through sustainable production across the global footwear, apparel and textile value chains, including reducing environmental impact and promoting social justice.
As Better Cotton works towards our 2030 Strategy, collaboration across the sector and our membership will continue to be essential in deepening impact and delivering our ambitions to improve lives and livelihoods in rural communities, and transform the cotton sector – for good.
The SAC has been a Better Cotton Associate Member since 2019. Through ongoing collaboration and knowledge sharing, we work together to reach cotton farming communities with more sustainable farming practices.
Better Cotton is also a SAC Affiliate Member, joining over 250 leading brands, retailers, suppliers, service providers, trade associations, non-profits, NGOs and academic institutions in the SAC Membership since 2013. We share a common journey as we endeavor to create positive change for people and the planet. We work tirelessly to ensure that the Higg Index performance improvements robustly and factually reflect the environmental performance of Better Cotton as a raw material.
All cotton-growing regions will be affected by climate risks, according to Cotton 2040, predominantly through heat stress, water stress and shortened growing seasons.
This is an old news post – to read the latest about Better Cotton traceability, please click here.
This post was updated on 22 October 2021.
There is a growing demand for more traceable Better Cotton, as stakeholders worldwide seek more clarity over the social and environmental challenges associated with the cotton supply chain, and policymakers require businesses to demonstrate greater transparency. Better Cotton is committed to working with all our key stakeholders to deliver physical traceability for Better Cotton. And with significant convening power and a network spanning actors across the supply chain, we believe we are well placed to help drive this transformation. In this way, we aim to catalyse progress across the sector.
Why is traceability important?
Understanding the route Better Cotton takes from field to market enables a clearer view of risks and where to prioritise efforts for continuous improvement. It will build on our existing efforts to build farmers’ capacity to adopt more sustainable practices and promote decent work and will facilitate the inclusion of producers in increasingly regulated international value chains, helping to improve lives and safeguard livelihoods in cotton farming communities. The sourcing landscape is changing, and we want to make sure these changes are good for those who produce and source Better Cotton.
What have we achieved so far?
We are currently exploring the best possible options to achieve physically traceable Better Cotton in close consultation with our membership to ensure we set course on a pathway that meets stakeholder needs and expectations. We have created a panel of experts from among our Retailer and Brand Members to help us build momentum and determine the best way to engage with all our stakeholders across the Better Cotton value chain. We have also run workshops and surveys with our Supplier and Manufacturer Members, with input from over 1,500 organisations to date. The message from our membership is clear – traceability is becoming business critical, and Better Cotton has a key role to play in delivering it for the industry
What are our next steps?
Starting in 2022, we will start testing various traceability solutions and partner with new and existing stakeholders to forge a collective pathway to systemic change. To ensure a viable, fit-for-purpose solution, we need to make sure it works for Better Cotton Farmers and for every actor in the cotton supply chain. We will also revise our requirements for those handling Better Cotton in the supply chain and introduce innovative integrity checks that go beyond traditional auditing practices. This will provide all stakeholders the confidence to source Better Cotton and assure them of the positive impact their sourcing practices have on the ground.
Traceability is a huge investment for Better Cotton and everyone involved across the supply chain. Funding is needed to develop robust, workable systems and to help all the relevant actors invest in change. This is particularly important for smaller actors, like smallholder farmers and small-scale ginners, who may not have access to the finance and resources to make the changes that are needed. While traceability comes with a cost, it also represents an opportunity to create new market mechanisms that bring value for Better Cotton Farmers, such as rewarding them for carbon sequestration.
Once we have procured a digital solution in 2023, we will begin onboarding suppliers from different geographies into our network. We’ll gradually build engagement with our global Better Cotton community to make it possible for all suppliers to engage in the system, making any necessary adjustments along the way as we further refine our approach. We anticipate some regions will need greater support, and we will focus on capacity building and training with these suppliers to ensure our system is inclusive. Once the solution is established, we will keep monitoring and evaluating its effectiveness, to ensure service quality and continuous improvement.
How can I get involved?
This is your opportunity to help forge a solution for fully traceable Better Cotton and shape a better future for cotton farming communities. Contact us at [email protected] for more information on how you can get involved.
At BCI, we think a lot about cotton sustainability data. Together with our Implementing Partners, we collect and analyse millions of data points each year from countries across the world about fertiliser and pesticide use, irrigation water, yields and smallholder profitability.
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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The Better Cotton Living Income Project: Insights from India
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We’ve updated our Data Privacy Policy
These updates are intended to reflect changes to the Better Cotton Platform’s default sharing settings and data use in our Audit management system.
You don’t need to do anything to accept these changes – they’re effective from today, 2 April 2025.
You can read the full text by visiting our Data Privacy Policy page.
