UTRECHT – The 2023 Cotton Ranking and a complementary research paper concerning corporate responsibility paint a bleak picture for cotton sourcing practices among large-scale companies, with a lack of progress and widespread avoidance of data sharing among the key concerns raised.
The latest instalment of the league table, based on data gathered in the second half of 2022 from consumer-facing companies using over 10,000 metric tonnes of cotton lint annually, found that just nine of a total 82 firms were procuring at least 99 per cent of their cotton from certified sources.
“All other large companies are falling short, or doing nothing,” the report scolds.
Solidaridad Europe and the Pesticide Action Network UK, the publishers of the rankings and research document, say the disappointing results reflect a “choice” made by brands and retailers; sourcing all cotton from certified sources is, they argue, a “bare minimum that too many companies are failing to achieve”.
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