BCI, or “Better Cotton Initiative”, is one of many logos you may see on clothing labels and something a brand may brag about using—but is BCI cotton sustainable?
With an increasing number of sustainability certifications and initiatives, it’s not merely a tick-box question. Especially when “better” doesn’t always translate into better for people and the planet.
Let’s take a deep dive into what BCI cotton means and figure out whether it deserves a place in our sustainable wardrobe or if we’d be better off avoiding it.
Contents: What Is BCI Cotton Certification?
- Overview Of BCI Jump to section
- How Common Is BCI Cotton? Jump to section
- BCI Cotton Standard Jump to section
- BCI Cotton Vs. GOTS Cotton Jump to section
- Ethics And Sustainability Of BCI Cotton Jump to section
- Can You Trust BCI Cotton? Jump to section
- How To Look For BCI Cotton Products Jump to section
Overview Of BCI
Cotton—albeit natural—is a pretty nature-compromising material. Unless it’s organic cotton, the fabric is heavily genetically modified, uses almost a quarter of the insecticides sold worldwide, and requires a third of a pound of fertilizers to produce just a single t-shirt.
The world’s “dirtiest crop” also takes a significant toll on the health of the people who produce it.
It became clear that better cotton was needed, so in 2005, the BCI came about to deliver. Early on, initial support came from organizations like Adidas, Gap Inc., H&M, IKEA, Organic Exchange, Oxfam, and Pesticide Action Network (PAN) UK. Now, more than 2,400 civil society non-profits, producer organizations, suppliers and manufacturers, retailers and brands, and other entities contribute to the BCI.
What Does BCI mean?
BCI stands for the Better Cotton Initiative, commonly referred to as just “Better Cotton”. Convened by WWF, the non-profit and multistakeholder governance group recognized that cotton needed to be better for smallholders, farm workers, and farming communities.
As such, Better Cotton takes a farmer-centric approach. Providing education and knowledge, they work with farmers to increase yields, improve working conditions, and provide greater financial security and well-being.
The 2030 Strategy, released in December 2021, centers around five impact targets:
- Climate change mitigation: Reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of every tonne of BCI cotton by 50%
- Soil health: Improve soil health to enhance resilience to climate change, productivity, and farmer income
- Pesticide use: Reduce the volume and toxicity of pesticides to support human health and farmer incomes; increase adoption of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices
- Smallholder livelihoods: Eradicate farmer poverty by improving farmer resilience to the effects of climate change and fluctuations in the global cotton trade
- Women’s empowerment: Reduce gender inequality and discrimination
These impact targets will provide metrics to track progress and demonstrate change at the field level.
How Common Is BCI Cotton?
BCI is one of the world’s leading sustainability initiatives, at least in terms of numbers.
There are currently more than 2.2 million Better Cotton farmers spanning 22 countries. In the 2021-2022 season, they produced 5.4 million tons of BCI cotton—or 22% of the world’s total cotton production.
From producer organizations to retailers and brands, BCI has over 2,500 members from across the cotton supply chain. You can search their database to find members.
BCI Cotton Standard
The Better Cotton initiative is undoubtedly reaching a great number of farmers and brands, but what exactly does it mean?
“Better” cotton, as envisioned through the organization’s Principles & Criteria, has evolved over the years. Version 3.0 (released March 2023) includes six core principles with mandatory indicators that farmers must meet before they are licensed to sell Better Cotton:
- Management: Farmers are supported in using a management system to ensure they meet the Principles and Criteria
- Natural Resources: This covers soil health, water management, biodiversity, and conservation.
- Crop Protection: Use of Integrated Pest Management to reduce pesticide reliance and phase out Highly Hazardous Pesticides
- Fiber Quality: Use best practices during harvest, storage, and transportation
- Decent Work: Covering labor rights, health and safety, and minimum wages.
- Sustainable Livelihoods: Improved living and working conditions and social inclusion.
In addition to the above, there are two Cross-Cutting Priorities: Gender Equality and Climate Change. The recently revised Principles & Criteria are an improvement on previous versions, especially with regard to embracing regenerative agriculture.
BCI Cotton Vs. GOTS Cotton
How reliable is the BCI cotton standard compared to other popular sustainable cotton ones, like GOTS?
GOTS stands for Global Organic Textile Standard, meaning it can only be used for textiles made with at least 70% certified organic natural fibers. To compare BCI cotton with organic cotton and better understand the two, we need to look at the differences in inputs and technology.
GMOs
One of the first things to note about BCI vs. organic cotton is that BCI is a mainstream initiative that works with many farmers using genetically modified (GM) cotton varieties. Their adopted position of being “technology neutral” means they’re unlikely to take a stance against GMO cotton anytime soon. Since GMOs cannot be considered organic, this is one major divergent point between BCI and GOTS cotton.
Pesticides
BCI farmers are required to avoid the use of Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HHPs), including those listed in Annex A and B of the Stockholm Convention, Annexes of the Montreal Protocol or Annex III of the Rotterdam Convention, those under 1a and 1b of the WHO classification, and category 1 or 2 of the Globally Harmonized System of
Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS). Exceptional use may be permitted if they “do not yet have viable alternatives.”
Producers must also have a plan to phase out pesticides defined as carcinogenic, reprotoxic, or mutagenic by 2028 or before. On the other hand, to bear the GOTS seal, cotton may not be grown with any synthetic pesticides.
Fertilizers
Organic-approved fertilizers are the only ones permitted for organic or GOTS cotton. These include manure, compost, rock phosphate, bone meal, chicken litter, and vermicompost. While BCI recognizes that poor management of fertilizers is associated with groundwater pollution and high nitrous oxide emissions, improved fertilizer management is only suggested at this stage.
While BCI farmers in Pakistan used 17% less synthetic fertilizer than similar farmers in the region, there’s nothing to suggest this is the case in BCI’s other 21 countries of operation.
BCI Cotton versus Conventional Cotton
At first glance, it seems like BCI cotton isn’t all that different from conventional cotton. Unlike organic cotton, BCI and conventional cotton don’t require “seed to shelf” sustainability efforts throughout the entire supply chain—from growing and ginning to spinning and shipping.
While some BCI farmers may use integrated pest management (IPM) and cover crops to replace the need for pesticides and fertilizers, there’s no way for consumers to trace BCI cotton to the farms employing these. In other words, there’s really no way to know whether organic practices are behind any particular BCI-marked item. That said, it’s better to think of BCI cotton as conventional cotton, with some extra attention paid to things like pesticide use and soil health.
Ethics And Sustainability Of BCI Cotton
How Sustainable Is BCI Cotton?
While the previous version of BCI Principles and Criteria left much to be desired regarding sustainable cotton production, the recent update, plus the fact that all indicators are now mandatory, is a welcome improvement. The updated standard embraces regenerative agriculture methods, including maximizing crop diversity, keeping the soil covered (e.g., through cover crops and mulch), and minimizing soil disturbance (e.g., reduced and no-tillage). It also includes prioritizing organic fertilizers reducing the use of synthetic fertilizers over time.
Between 2014/15 and 2021/22, farmers participating in Better Cotton’s India Program reduced their usage of very harmful pesticides from 64% to 10% of cotton harvests. We are unsure how much of a reduction there has been in other countries.
Regarding climate goals, BCI aims to cut GHG by 50% by 2030. It’s questionable whether they have the teeth (i.e., practices or principles) in place to make this happen. On the positive side, according to a 2021 report, Better Cotton production in China, India, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Turkey had, on average, 19% lower emissions intensity per tonne of lint cotton than comparable production.
Further, a 2018 study assessing Indian cotton farmers found that BCI cotton required less water and primary energy than conventional cotton. It was also associated with lower eutrophication rates, slightly less soil acidification and global warming potential. As a limitation, the study didn’t assess differences in soil types, erosion, or nutrient content between the investigated farms.
How Ethical Is BCI Cotton?
BCI cotton has been linked to forced labor of Uyghurs, or Muslims living in Xinjiang (Chinese-occupied East Turkestan).
Our friends at Moral Fibres investigated the alleged forced labor, and they found an interesting trail of events.
- Since 2017, there have been reports of forced labor camps in Xinjiang (where more than 20% of the world’s cotton comes from).
- Reports of BCI cotton being sourced in Xinjiang came about in 2020.
- Shortly after that, BCI announced in a now-deleted statement that they would cease operations in that region.
- In early 2021, China excluded (i.e., blocked from the internet, removed from digital maps, cut off taxi services) many brands associated with BCI, like Nike, Adidas, and H&M.
- BCI then removed any public statements regarding its ceased operations in the Xinjiang region. The only thing that remained was a statement saying that they had not found any signs of forced labor.
- Following that, the End Uyghur Forced Labour organization released a statement saying, “By continuing to operate in China without being clear on its zero tolerance for forced labour and its rationale for exiting the Uyghur Region, BCI is allowing itself to be used by the Chinese government to claim that business can go on as usual and to deny the ongoing crimes against humanity, including widespread and systematic forced labour.”
In 2020, BCI formed a Task Force on Forced Labour and Decent Work. A report from the 12 experts was published, concluding that: “While BCI explicitly cites the promotion of decent work as one of its core objectives, the level of attention and investment thus far has been insufficient.” The report made nine strategic recommendations on how the BCI should address its shortcomings. The BCI response, BCI Onboards Task Force Recommendation details its progress and future steps including a greater focus Decent Work in the Better Cotton Standard.
Is BCI Cotton Traceable?
At the end of 2023, BCI launched Better Cotton Traceability, a framework to serve as a tracking system for their cotton. Currently, this means knowing the country of origin and tracing the cotton’s journey using a new Chain of Custody Standard and the Better Cotton Platform.
In the future, BCI hopes that traceability will support better field-level investment for farmers. It’s a huge undertaking with many challenges, but ultimately a very positive step in the right direction.
Can You Trust BCI Cotton?
If you were to look at Better Cotton’s 2030 Strategy Report, you would see “fertilizer” talked about just nine times and “pollution” mentioned only once. But “economic”, “brands”, and “market” are discussed 42, 24, and 25 times, respectively.
It’s easy to see which P of the triple bottom line—people, planet, profit—BCI still has roots in. Although consumers increasingly want more sustainable fabrics, it’s worrying that “Better Cotton” may only be better for business—not better for our planet or its people.
Funded by Fast Fashion
BCI’s funding stream is a testament to this, too. According to their website, “Most of the funding for field-level activities currently comes from Retailer and Brand Members.” When some of these brand members include fast fashion giants like H&M, Gap, and Zara, you have to wonder if they’re just funding an initiative often mistaken as a labeling system because it’s easy and cheap to slap a BCI logo on a cotton t-shirt. That may not actually mean that it’s made from better cotton.
BCI does go on to say that they plan to diversify their funding streams “to ensure broad ownership of the progress and success being made.”
“Better” Cotton—But Less Organic Cotton
The Changing Markets Foundation works to expose irresponsible corporate practices, and they’re wondering about BCI’s trustworthiness, too. In their report, The False Promise of Certification, BCI was ranked as one of the worst schemes.
Not only does the organization tolerate pesticides and GMOs, but its popularity has driven down consumer demand for organic cotton—something with actual ethical and environmental benefits. Even worse, under BCI participation, many farmers have switched from organic to GM cotton.
The Future Of Better Cotton Certification
Whilst all of the above are valid reasons to be wary of Better Cotton, recent developments look more promising. The BCI recently announced that they are becoming a third-party verified certification scheme (complete with a new product label). Along with their increased traceability endeavors and updated farm-level sustainability standard with its stronger focus on regenerative agriculture methods and decent work, the future of Better Cotton may get better.
How To Look For BCI Cotton Products
Knowing how to verify BCI cotton textiles may not (yet) produce the intended environmental and ethical results a consumer is seeking. However, it’s still valuable to know how to identify BCI cotton—if only because you’d rather avoid it for now. There are a few ways you can do this.
The logo until 2021 was light green and bolded BCI letters with the wording “Better Cotton Initiative.” More recently, you can expect to see a lowercase ‘b’ with a cotton symbol in the center, along with the words “better cotton.” Alternatively, you can find members (BCI cotton brands like Cotton On) on the organization’s website.