Metrics

The term “lower impact cotton” refers to a range of options, including those from the Better Cotton Initiative and Cotton made in Africa (CmiA). There is currently no publically available, peer-reviewed data that compares all the options alongside the various sources of conventional cotton.

A public life cycle assessment of CmiA cotton found that its production has a 59% lower carbon footprint than global average conventional cotton [1]. The total water footprint of CmiA cotton was found to be 8% higher, but this is 99% rain-fed or “green” water [1,2]. CmiA production uses no “blue“ water resource – surface or ground water – because it does not rely on irrigation. In contrast, 60% of the water footprint of average conventional cotton is “blue” water.

^1. Systain Consulting, Nill, M. and Wick, K., 2012, The Carbon and Water Footprint of Cotton made in Africa
^2. Hoekstra AY et al, 2011, The Water Footprint Assessment Manual