Stakeholder Forum To Engage More Broadly on Australian Cotton’s Sustainability
September 21, 2016

Australian cotton is one of the only agricultural industries in the world to conduct full, independent environmental audits of its entire production system. The most recent audit recommended the industry engage on its sustainability credentials further down the supply chain, and set sustainability targets by which to benchmark and measure progress.

In June this year, Cotton Australia and the Cotton Research and Development Corporation hosted a one-day forum to get feedback from a broad cross section of the Australian community including brands and retailers, community groups, financial institutions and government agencies.

Feedback on overall environmental performance was overwhelmingly positive and there was great feedback on the draft industry sustainability targets, particularly in addressing the “people” area of cotton production in Australia.

This feedback will be incorporated into the targets, and also used to form the basis for a communication and engagement strategy for Australian cotton’s sustainability work.

Involvement with the Cotton LEADS Program will continue to play a key role in communicating Australia’s sustainability credentials to the textile supply chain.

The Sustainability Stakeholder Forum was held at Coogee in Sydney on 8 June 2016 and was coordinated by the cotton industry’s Sustainability Working Group.

The Forum was established to:

  • Provide guidance and feedback to the Australian cotton industry on sustainability issues, targets, indicators and reporting efforts (in accordance with Stakeholder Engagement Principles of the Global Reporting Initiative)
  • Ensure relevance of the cotton sustainability report
  • Support the Australian cotton industry to become a global leader in sustainable agriculture.

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