"As Steve Howard, Chief Sustainability Officer for Ikea, cotton was contributing most negatively to the company’s overall carbon footprint. However, years of efforts to implement grassroots advocacy and educating its primary cotton farmers to embrace the Better Cotton Standard are now showing results with some witnessing reductions in water and fertilizer usage of up to 50 per cent, while yields for many have increased by 5 per cent to 15 per cent."

The motive behind Better Cotton Initiative’s (BCI) is to make global cotton production better for the people who produce it, for the environment it grows in and for the sector’s future. Many leading brands such as Ikea, Adidas, Gap and H&M joined the initiative to support sustainable growing practices that rely on less water, fertilisers and pesticides, among other things. However, Ikea was the only brand that succeeded in its commitment to sourcing 100 per cent of its cotton from BCI sources by 2015.

Ikea implements its promise to source ‘Better Cotton’

Ikea requires 0.7 per cent of the world’s cotton supply for its sofa, upholstery and towels and all the cotton sourced by this Scandinavian company now comes from famers working in collaboration with the Better Cotton Initiative.

As Steve Howard, Chief Sustainability Officer for Ikea, cotton was contributing most negatively to the company’s overall carbon footprint. However, years of efforts to implement grassroots advocacy and educating its primary cotton farmers to embrace the Better Cotton Standard are now showing results with some witnessing reductions in water and fertilizer usage of up to 50 per cent, while yields for many have increased by 5 per cent to 15 per cent.

Ikea, in its efforts to reduce carbon footprint, started working closely with its supply-chain partners to reach individual farmers and switched cotton procurement to sustainable cotton sources, which created a market for sustainable growers. Howard said that the response was most positive in South Asia. The world’s largest home furnishing company sources most of its cotton from India, Pakistan, Turkey, China, Brazil and the United States. About 5 per cent of the supply comes from US sources, according to Ikea.

Efforts continue to further the Better Cotton cause

While the company has succeeded in achieving its initial goal, it will continue to take initiatives to increase the sustainable cotton production. In its aim to save water, the company supports drip irrigation techniques since they help in bringing down the amount of water sprayed onto soil where no crops are planted. According to Howard, Ikea is also long at diversifying the fibers it uses for textiles, both through recycling of previously used material and by increasing the ways in which it uses hemp and flax.

According to BCI, more than 25 million tons of cotton is produced annually. As of last year, about 7.6 per cent of that amount was produced using farming methods that met the Better Cotton Standard. As of 2014, more than 1.2 million small farming operations have embraced the initiative in 20 countries, which was ahead of schedule. By 2020, the target is 30 per cent of global production and five million farmers.

Among the leading apparel players committed to Better Cotton Initiative, Adidas Group aims to achieve its 100 per cent Better Cotton goal by 2018. In 2014, the company sourced about 30 per cent of its cotton fibre through BCI sources. H&M expects to reach its 100 per cent commitment by 2020 and as of 2014, 21.2 per cent of the cotton in products sold by the Swedish clothing retailer were organic, recycled or grown via BCI production methods.

Levi Strauss & Co is looking forward to achieving 75 per cent by 2020; as of April, the denim giant had reached 6 per cent. Whereas Marks & Spencer with a goal to reach 70 per cent Better Cotton by 2020; has said that one-third of its cotton comes from BCI, organic, recycle or Fair Trade sources. While Nike’s target was to source 100 per cent Better Cotton by 2020; as of a 2014 update, the company said it may take longer than expected to transition its cotton sources.

Bettercotton.org www.ikea.com