Cotton Council International (CCI), the export promotion arm of the National Cotton Council of America (NCC), is a non-profit trade association that promotes U.S. cotton fibre and manufactured cotton products around the globe with our Cotton USA trademark. CCI has 60 years of experience promoting U.S. cotton fibre and products to trade and consumers.
CCI’s mission is to make U.S. cotton the preferred fibre for mills/ manufacturers, brands/retailers and consumers, commanding a value-added premium that delivers profitability across the U.S. cotton industry and drives export growth of fibre, yarn and other cotton products. The company has recently introduced new standards in sustainability.
U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol Sustainability
As you can see from the chart below, Cotton USA has a long-standing commitment to reducing our environmental footprint for a greener world. The new US Cotton Trust Protocol is one step in our mission to continue to reinforce US cotton’s reputation as the most sustainably farmed cotton in the world. By 2025, the organization is committed to these goals.
• 18 percent increase in irrigation efficiency
• 39 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions
• 15 percent reduction in energy expenditure
• 50 percent reduction in soil loss
• 30 percent increase in soil carbon
• 13 percent increase in productivity (i.e. reduced land use per pound of fibre)
Independent 3rd party verification
The new U.S. Cotton trust Protocol is a tangible and transparent snapshot of U.S. cotton growing practices and the gains in sustainability standards resulting from them. It’s an integrated data collection, measurement and verification system that will document U.S. cotton production practices and their environmental impact.
Growers will enroll individually with a list of more than 100 questions to be used by vertifiers to measure improvement and required to use by verifiers to measure improvement and required to use a data tool (like the Field Print Platform) to allow for quantitative measurement to key sustainability metrics.
There are two levels of verification: 2nd party verification to ensure the questionnaire and other required documentation is completed; 3rd party verification by a completely independent sustainability expert.
The details of The U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol are being fine-tuned and a pilot program will be launched in 2019 and fully implemented in 2020.
