World Environment Day Special Edition: U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol setting new standards in sustainable cottton production

Every year June 5 th is celebrated as the ‘World Environment Day’ (WED). Every year the day, which has now become a global platform for creating awareness about sustainability, is celebrated with a theme. In 2021 the theme is ‘Ecosystem Restoration’. Coincidentally, this time around, just as in 2020, the event is being held amidst a raging Covid-19 pandemic. While extremely unfortunate, there is no denying the fact that the pandemic has been instrumental in raising the levels of awareness about sustainable practices and products.

After the pandemic a lot of the narrative on different media—such as the television, newspapers and over social media—has been about sustainability initiatives that can contribute to improving the overall health of our planet.

It is a well-known fact that rapid industrialization has been one of the key reasons behind the rising levels of pollution globally. However, simultaneously there has been plenty of research going on finding out solutions to reduce the carbon footprint from industries. This is true of the textile industry, too. The textile industry has been at the forefront of sustainability initiatives. The U.S Cotton Protocol is perhaps the best example of such an initiative.

The U.S. Cotton Protocol sets a new standard for more sustainably grown cotton. It brings quantifiable and verifiable goals and measurements to sustainable cotton production and drives continuous improvement in six key sustainability metrics– land use, soil carbon, water management, soil loss, greenhouse gas emission and energy efficiency. The protocol is designed to address the unique regulatory and larger farm growing environment of the United States.