The Organic Cotton Accelerator (OCA) has come out with a comprehensive cradle-to-ginning-gate Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study highlighting the environmental benefits of organic cotton farming in India.
THE REGIONAL STUDY FOCUSED ON INDIA, where OCA works with over 100,000 farmers. Covering five states: Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Gujarat and Telangana, this study claims to capture local environmental impacts with greater accuracy than global averages can offer.
- Conducted by South Pole, a leading carbon asset developer and climate consultancy, the study analysed third-party validated data from over 18,000 farmers across three growing seasons (2020–23) and three distinct irrigation contexts: rain-fed, heavily irrigated, and hybrid.
KEY FINDINGS: The primary objectives of OCA’s regional LCA included establishing a credible baseline cradle-to-ginning-gate assessment, enabling third-party verified environmental claims, and facilitating Scope 3 GHG reporting for OCA brands. OCA also aimed to improve its internal data collection and management for future LCAs and data monitoring.
The results indicate that organic cotton farming consistently has a lower environmental footprint across various categories assessed, including climate change, water use, acidification, and eutrophication:
- On-field emissions are the primary drivers of climate change, acidification, and eutrophication. For example, on-field emissions contribute the most (from 45% to 99%, with an average of 88%) to the majority of the impact categories (10 out of 16) among the Control–Irrigated group.
- Fertiliser application, both mineral and organic, plays a major role in shaping the environmental impact of cotton cultivation.
- Water use impacts vary significantly based on irrigation methods, with rainfed systems having the lowest impacts.
KEY RECOMMENDATIONS: The study’s findings suggest that reducing the environmental impact of cotton production requires a combination of targeted strategies.
- Encouraging the adoption of organic cotton is a key step, as it generally relies on fewer synthetic inputs and supports more sustainable farming systems. In addition, using lower-impact irrigation methods and improving fertiliser management can significantly reduce the environmental footprint of cotton cultivation. Improving energy efficiency on farms further contributes by cutting resource use and lowering greenhouse gas emissions.
- To effectively guide and measure sustainability efforts, it is important to improve the quality and consistency of LCA data. This includes refining secondary data for irrigation, such as through collaboration with local authorities or agencies to improve water footprint estimates. Regular updates to LCA studies are also essential for tracking progress and assessing the impact of interventions over time, ensuring strategies remain relevant and informed by the most recent data.
WHAT THEY SAID:
OCA’s first regional LCA doesn’t only provide unique local insights into the environmental benefits of organic cotton for our sector, it also helps us identify how to deepen the impact of our work and improve OCA’s own data systems so we can deliver increasingly accurate LCAs in the future - showcasing the positive impact delivered by the fantastic work of the farmers in our programme.
— Bart Vollaard
Executive Director
Organic Cotton Accelerator
Comprehensive, regionally relevant and reliable data sets are crucial for brands and retailers in the textile sector to have full visibility of the environmental impacts of their products and take meaningful action on climate and beyond. At South Pole we are proud to partner with OCA on this innovative study offering an extensive, farm-level dataset, providing valuable insights into the environmental impacts of different farming systems, underlining the benefits of organic cotton cultivation.
— Caroline Peyer
LCA Lead, Environmental Impact Accounting
South Pole
