How we measure our positive impact
When you think about cotton, what comes to mind? For many, it’s cotton the water guzzler, cotton the pesticide consumer, cotton associated with child- or forced labour. But it doesn’t have to be this way. We know cotton has so much to offer, as long as it has been grown and cultivated the right way.
At Raddis Cotton, we are obsessed with creating positive impacts for people and the planet. And to do this well we need to have the numbers to back up our vision and support our partners. This means defining the change we want to see, and identifying the practical metrics we can use to track our progress.
When creating these impact measurements, it's important to consider the kind of data we need (e.g. qualitative or quantitative), the resources we have to undertake the assessments, the methods we'll use and the frequency in which we'll collect data and analyse data. Data ranges from:
socio-economic indicators such as
and/or bio-physical indicators such as
There is no one standard for impact measurements and the process can be very costly, for example when lab testing is done or when baseline studies must be conducted.
Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), which seeks to measure the environmental impacts associated with a product from material extraction to disposal, can be a good next step. However this can be very costly and often still based on assumptions. We are looking for the real numbers within our own context to understand whether our efforts are resulting in impact and if so, how much?
For us this is an ongoing journey where we keep learning by doing, co-creating with partners while getting closer and closer to what we are looking for: Real tangible positive impact, easy to measure but most of all clearly visible in the field and throughout the supply chain!
We have set our starting points with great consideration, and we came up with the following list of impact indicators and what we base these data on.
We are currently reporting on:
We are constantly seeking to improve our approach to measurement. We founded the Circular Cotton Cascade Consortium: a group of 13 organisations, which explores multiple usage of cotton through collaboration based on co-creation, trust and purpose. Part of the research question is about selecting the right impact indicators as a consortium and associated stakeholders.
Whilst we know we can’t measure everything, agricultural and farming systems are incredibly complex, we’re proud of the work we’ve done to date helping farmers shift from a degenerative system to a regenerative system: every gram of pesticide, every seed of GMO, every kg of synthetic fertilizer not used is a win for human and environmental health.
If you have additional remarks or questions, please contact us: hello@raddis.org