Better Cotton, the world’s largest cotton certifier, has announced the launch of the Delta Framework, a framework of common environmental, social and economic indicators to measure sustainability in the cotton and coffee sectors.
The Delta Framework was developed as part of a cross-industry collaboration over the past three years with the aim of creating a consolidated and consistent method for measuring and reporting on the progress of farms participating in certification schemes for sustainable raw materials or other sustainable agriculture initiatives .
The framework is also accompanied by examples of best practices, methods and tools to encourage all stakeholders to adopt and use the framework, as well as recommendations on how private or public entities use it effectively and information for their members to communicate about sustainability.
Framework incorporates eight standards
The cross-sectoral program reached consensus on key sustainability indicators and guides, which were extensively tested by project participants and other stakeholders. As a result, representatives of eight sustainable cotton standards, programs and codes (the members of the Cotton 2040 Working Group on Impact Metrics Alignment) signed a memorandum of understanding committing to align on measuring and reporting on impacts.
Each member commits to establishing an individual timetable for the integration of relevant Delta indicators into its own monitoring, assessment and reporting systems. The framework also offers the opportunity to develop cross-sectoral services to address farmers’ concerns and challenges while facilitating reporting on progress.
“Better Cotton is proud to have initiated and coordinated this cross-sector collaboration that brings together expertise from across the agricultural sector. The Delta Framework makes it easier for the private sector, governments and farmers to effectively report on sustainability progress. This will lead to an improvement in the quality of support and services for farmers, including better funding and better government policies,” Better Cotton CEO Alan McClay said in a statement.
The Delta Framework was made possible by a grant from the ISEAL Innovation Fund, supported by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). The project collaborators include important organizations for sustainability standards in the cotton and coffee sectors. The founding organizations are Better Cotton, the Global Coffee Platform (GCP), the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) and the International Coffee Association (ICO).