BCI gets €2M to increase sustainable cotton production

In a bid to foster sustainable cotton production, Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) has bagged €2M from German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). This is in support of BCI’s Growth and Innovation Fund (GIF) that aims to reach out to 5 million mainly small-scale cotton producers in Asia and Africa for rise in sustainable production.

“Making globalisation socially and environmentally fair – that is our common goal, both in our Textiles Partnership and in the Better Cotton Initiative. BCI is a leader in the effort to achieve better environmental and social standards in cotton production. Together with the private sector, civil society and producer country governments, we are defining standards,” said German development minister Gerd Muller.

GIF intends to bring the share of BCI-licensed sustainable cotton in global production to 30 per cent by 2020. The GIF consists of a global project portfolio. It is managed jointly by corporations (including H&M, IKEA and C&A), civil society partners and government institutions such as the Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH), which is supported by the Dutch government. More than 100 million family farms from across the world are engaged in cotton production.

BCI is a non-profit organisation that seeks to make global cotton production more sustainable by licensing cotton farmers who use sustainable farming methods. The BCI standard is one of the reference standards used by the Textiles Partnership that was initiated by the BMZ.