In 2023, the Cotton Council of America will use “The Journey To A Smart Cotton Future” as the theme, calling on the textile industry to take sustainable development and environmental protection as the future goals, and further promote the US Cotton Trust Agreement (US Cotton Trust) Protocol, USCTP), which is also the first and only one in the textile industry that can provide a transparent and traceable supply chain platform from farmland to brand.
According to U.S. cotton statistics, in the past 35 years, the water consumption per acre of cotton in the United States has been reduced by 79%, greenhouse gas emissions have been reduced by 40%, and soil loss has been reduced by 37%. The United States has used scientific evidence to guide cotton production to sustainable development plans , Starting from raw materials, strengthen the supply chain, protect labor rights and make the traceability and transparency of the supply chain more in line with market demand.
In particular, the US Cotton Trust Protocol has received direct support from the US Department of Agriculture, allocating US$90 million to the US Climate Smart Cotton Program.
This is because the trust agreement can provide quantifiable and verifiable goals and benchmarks, and promote the continuous improvement of six key sustainability indicators, including: land use, soil carbon stock, water resource management, soil loss, greenhouse gas emissions, and energy efficiency. It also integrates sustainability indicators such as the Fieldprint® platform from Field-to-Market, allowing cotton farmers who have joined the Trust Code to measure the impact of cotton field operations on the environment and seek ways for continuous improvement.
More than 1,000 U.S. cotton farmers have now joined the pilot program, implementing climate-smart management on more than 1 million acres. The program is expected to produce more than 4 million bales of sustainable cotton within five years. “The U.S. Climate Smart Cotton Initiative provides growers with an important step forward in giving farmers access to new opportunities to learn, grow and explore ways to improve their environmental footprint, as well as the necessary resources to do so.”
In addition to promoting the trust agreement and providing sustainable supply chain management solutions, the American Cotton Association has now added a factory master course, covering how to choose fibers and spinning solutions for spinning mills, so that when the textile industry rebuilds the supply chain in the post-epidemic era, Provide valuable information to help industries build a more sustainable environment and economy.
Taiwan is one of the important markets for US cotton. In fiscal 2022, domestic spinning mills and Taiwanese overseas companies will import more than 710,000 bales of U.S. cotton.
Over the past three years, most of the top 100 fashion brands with sales of $1 trillion have committed to using 100% sustainable fibers in their products by 2025.
Benefits of joining the Trust Protocol supply chain include:
Be part of a fully transparent supply chain and have the opportunity to be selected by brands sourcing US cotton fiber
Ability to use the Trust Protocol seal to communicate sustainability goals
Free access to a dedicated US Cotton Technology Pack Support
Post on the Trust Protocol website for free publicity
