Cotton Council International
Partnership member since
2014/10
Headquarter:
1521 New Hampshire Ave, N.W., 20036 Washington, DC
Number of employees:
50
Self-presentation
CCI promotes U.S. cotton fiber and manufactured cotton products around the globe. CCI’s reach extends to more than 50 countries through 20 offices around the world. Directly, through CCI’s industry partnerships and collaboration with affiliated organizations of the National Cotton Council of America, the American Cotton Producers, Cotton Incorporated and the Cotton Foundation and through non affiliated organizations such as the International Cotton Advisory Committee, the International Textile Manufacturers Federation, and the International Cotton Association, CCI influences, leads, educates, researches and promotes issues related to cotton and textiles, including sustainability of fiber and the supply chain.
Cotton Council International https://cottonusa.org/
National Cotton Council http://www.cotton.org/
The Cotton Foundation http://www.cotton.org/foundation
Cotton Incorporated http://www.cottoninc.com
Cotton LEADS http://cottonleads.org/
CSR Profile
CCI and its affiliate organizations including the National Cotton Council (comprised of U.S. spinners, merchants, cooperatives, warehousers, cottonseed dealers-crushers, ginners and farmers) and Cotton Incorporated (comprised of cotton farmers and textile importers) and more than 90 regional cotton organizations continue to refine and increase activities in sustainability standards and assurance. The NCC officially announced a pilot project of the U.S. Cotton Sustainability Trust Protocol to be done in 2019 with full implementation in 2020. The protocol assures best environmental practices and social standards are met including soil conservation, soil health, nutrient plans, integrated pest management, water use and quality, biodiversity, fiber quality traceability, harvesting and fair treatment of workers including wages, safety and health, prohibition of forced labor and child labor. Independent third party assurance is a required essential component.
Reports
Nichtregierungsorganisationen, Gewerkschaften, Standardorganisationen und Verbände kommen im Review-Prozess einer angepassten Berichtspflicht nach und beantworten diese drei Leitfragen:
COTTON USA TM, CCI is an active member in the Partnership, providing representative resource to the Partnership natural fibres expert working group; CCI is continuously offering to contribute expertise and perspective in cotton related central issues to the Partnership and its members.
COTTON USA TM, CCI, has contributed to achieving improvement in the ecological Partnership goal of increasing its members uptake of sustainably grown cotton, by developing and launching the sustainable cotton program, the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol, in 2020. The Trust Protocol marries farm-level data with environmental reporting needs of brands and retailers. The Trust Protocol reinforces the U.S. national sustainability goals and maps the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals, encourages the adoption of best practice in cotton farming and provides a route for brands sourcing U.S. cotton to access verified data in support of their sustainability goals.
CCI through the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol is an active member of Textile Exchange, the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, Delta Framework. CCI and the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol align with the Sustainable Cotton Challenge, Forum for the Future: Cotton 2040 Goals, the G7 Fashion Pact and the UNFCCC Fashion Industry Charter. All these also support the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
CCI through its global representatives across 50+ countries, is encouraging COTTON USA TM licensee textile companies and U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol members to embrace the goals of the Partnership.
COTTON USA TM, CCI, is seeking recognition by the Partnership for the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol as a source of sustainable cotton for Partnership members. For this COTTON USA and the Partnership have initiated the formal sustainable-cotton-standard-review process according to Partnership guidelines.
Essential content of the Trust Protocol is to embrace social standards including fair treatment of workers, fair wages, freedom of association, non-discriminatory employment, safe and sanitary working conditions, and environmental standards, tracking six key metrics across cotton productions: land use efficiency, soil carbon index, irrigation water use efficiency, soil preservation, greenhouse gas emissions reductions and energy efficiency of production. The ultimate scope is the entire US farming and the initial target group is U.S. cotton farmers participating in the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol standards program. The intended impact is to assure 100 % compliance with the national social and labor standards and to comply with all appropriate U.S. environmental rules on conservation, soil health, pesticide and fertilizer use while actively promoting and measuring continuous improvements on recommended regenerative practices. Impact will be measured by annual assessments of farmer practice adoption, active recruitment of new farmers each year and tracking progress toward 2025 published goals.