Australia
November 21, 2014
The Australian cotton industry has today launched its first Australian Grown Cotton Sustainability Report – tracking the industry’s social, economic and environmental footprint.
The report, launched jointly by Cotton Australia and the Cotton Research and Development Corporation (CRDC), provides a snapshot of how the industry is performing against 45 sustainability indicators - from crop yield and quality, water use and riparian land management to education levels, employment, health and social capital.
CRDC Chair, Dr Mary Corbett, said the report was the first to be prepared according to Global Reporting Initiative guidelines, but continues the industry’s unique 23 year commitment to independently assessing its performance.
“Since 1991, the Australian cotton industry has been conducting independent assessments of its environmental performance, to track how it has been performing and what improvements may need to be made,” Dr Corbett said.
“Today, with the release of the Sustainability Report, we are taking that commitment one step further – tracking and publicly recording our economic and social credentials, as well as our environmental ones.
“It’s about ensuring that we continue to always be proactive in recognising and responding to societal concerns – and that we can not only meet, but importantly exceed, expectations.”
Cotton grower and Cotton Australia Chair, Lyndon Mulligan, said the Sustainability Report also had international application, helping the Australian cotton industry secure its access to valuable markets.
“As an export dependent industry, having secure international markets for our cotton is critical,” Mr Mulligan said.
“That’s why we are involved in both the Cotton LEADS™ and Better Cotton Initiative programs – programs about stewarding global standards and committing to the supply of responsibly produced cotton.
“Both programs require us to demonstrate our credentials on the world stage – and the Sustainability Report will play a critical role in this: highlighting our industry’s economic, social and environmental performance to the world,” Mr Mulligan said.
The Australian Grown Cotton Sustainability Report was authored by Roth Rural and Regional on behalf of Cotton Australia and CRDC, and is available here.
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