99f8544b-0b62-457a-b246-e1b071bf6cd1Cotton fiber (organic) (at gin gate)technology mixproduction mix, at producer (gin)Lint cotton, fiberProcessesIndustry dataTextile ExchangeThe data set covers in a representative way all relevant process steps / technologies over the supply chain of organic cotton with a good overall data quality. The results of this study can be applied as a reference value for organic cotton production worldwide and shall be used with confidence in any further LCA studies e.g. along the value chain of the apparel industry. It should, however be noted that there is the need for consideration of modelling approaches that can affect the outcomes significantly, illustrated by different scenarios provided in the full LCA report. Absolute numbers should therefore always be interpreted with care and not be used as stand-alone indicators for simplified statements or unfounded decision making. It is strongly recommended to consider the full LCA Report (see LCA methodology report/ data handeling report) when using this dataset.97The data set represents a global average situation. The data set is estimated based on average national and regional situations for which data were collected. Thereby the dataset covers the main technologies, the region specific characteristics and / or import statistics.
Organic cotton farming worldwide produced around 140,000 t of fibre in the most recent survey of Textile Exchange in 2011-2012, grown in 18 countries around the globe, of which the top five countries make up over 95% and India alone close to 75%. Indian organic cotton production has been investigated by an in-depth LCA study resulting in a Master thesis (SLOTYUK 2013) that is the pre-cursor of the current study. In India, nine producer groups provided data, representing five Indian states where organic cotton is produced. For current dataset, further four countries are surveyed to receive primary data of cultivation in order to complement the geographical representativeness of the present work. These are: Turkey, China, Tanzania and USA. For Turkey, two sub-regions are differentiated: Aegean and South East Anatolia. For the US, irrigated and rainfed cultivation are assessed separately.The dataset represents cotton produced under the organic standard.
The system under consideration is a cradle-to-gate Life Cycle Inventory including the cul-tivation of the cotton plant until farm gate, the transport of the seed cotton to the gin, the ginning operations until the fibre is packaged in bales and is ready for shipping (see Figure above).
Cotton cultivation includes four main tasks: field preparation, planting, field operations, and harvesting. Under the collective term field operations irrigation, weed and pest control, and fertilization are included. These tasks consume energy (electricity and fuel), require inputs (seeds, fertilizers, water etc.) and produce wastes and emissions all of which form part of the present system. Within the scope of organic agriculture pest and weed control are largely preventive rather than direct. Examples of preventive measures constitute the selection of suitable varieties, balanced plant nutrition, enhancement of the soil organic matter, intercropping, promoting natural enemies, etc. Direct measures are applied when pests and diseases surpass the economic threshold. In this case pests are discouraged by germs (e.g. Trichogramma, Bacillus thuringensis) (EYHORN 2007), plant extracts (garlic, neem) or animal products (buttermilk, cow urine). Organic fertilizers are most commonly farmyard manure, compost and cow dung. Some-times mineral fertilizers such as rock phosphate and bio-fertilizers containing microorganisms such as rhizobium spp and acetobacter are also applied (SLOTYUK 2013). While rock phosphate is a marketed product, organic fertilizers are treated as wastes of another sys-tem and are therefore inputs without environmental burdens.
The ginning process comprises electricity used to prepare the seed cotton into the cotton fibre ready for shipping to the spinning mills. The impact of electricity provision depends on the country-specific grid mix, i.e. on the share of fossil and non-fossil resources used for energy provision. In this process two valuable by-products, seed and fibre, are separated from each other and from the waste. The allocation of environmental impacts takes place at this point: based on the market place calculated during the Cotton Inc. study (COTTON INC. 2012), 84% of impacts are allocated to the cotton fibre and the remaining 16% are allocated to the seed. The gin waste (broken seeds, fibres and plant residues) leaves the system burden free.Universal TractorTruckIrrigation pumpPotassium chloride (agrarian)Triple superphosphate (TSP)Monoammonium phosphate (MAP)Provision of organic cotton fiber for further processing in the textile industry22384_System boundaries organic cotton.jpgLCI resultAttributionalNoneAllocation - market valueAllocation - net calorific valueAllocation - exergetic contentAllocation - massFOREGROUND system: None. For details please see the document "GaBi Databases Modelling Principles"NoneGaBi Modelling PrinciplesGaBi Water Modelling PrinciplesLife Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Organic Cotton. A global average.Items were included or excluded from the study based on their expected environmental relevance (contribution of >2% to one of the selected impact categories for ginned cotton fiber). However, the environmental relevance of some of the excluded cases is hard to determine, because data availability is limited and approximations depend heavily on the assumptions made. Please refer to the full LCA Report for details.NonePrimary data for organic cotton cultivation was co-ordinated directly by the producer groups or external data collectors under facilitation of Textile Exchange. Specifically adapted questionnaires to collect inventory data for agricultural systems are used. These questionnaires were filled out by local consultants or directly by representatives of pro-ducer groups. Upon return to PE, these data are subjected to quality/plausibility checks and benchmarking against literature, internal datasets, the FAO STAT database and other primary cultivation data to ensure reliable results. No major deviations were detected. However, no independent on-site verification was performed.
Please refer to the full LCA Report for details. For details on the background process please see the document "GaBi Databases Modelling Principles"NonePrimary data for organic cotton cultivation was co-ordinated directly by the producer groups or external data collectors under facilitation of Textile Exchange. Specifically adapted questionnaires to collect inventory data for agricultural systems are used. These questionnaires were filled out by local consultants or directly by representatives of pro-ducer groups. Upon return to PE, these data are subjected to quality/plausibility checks and benchmarking against literature, internal datasets, the FAO STAT database and other primary cultivation data to ensure reliable results. No major deviations were detected. However, no independent on-site verification was performed.
Please refer to the full LCA Report for details. For details on the background process please see the document "GaBi Databases Modelling Principles"NoneLife Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Organic Cotton. A global average.GaBi databases 2006Life Cycle Assessment for Cultivation of Conventional and Organic Seed Cotton fibresLife Cycle Assessment of Organic Cotton Cultivation in India.Life Cycle Assessment of Cotton Fiber and Fabric.Soil carbon sequestration to mitigate climate change: a critical re-examination to identify the trueLife Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Organic Cotton. A global average.95.095%Primary data for organic cotton cultivation was co-ordinated directly by the producer groups or external data collectors under facilitation of Textile Exchange. Specifically adapted questionnaires to collect inventory data for agricultural systems are used. These questionnaires were filled out by local consultants or directly by representatives of pro-ducer groups. Upon return to PE, these data are subjected to quality/plausibility checks and benchmarking against literature, internal datasets, the FAO STAT database and other primary cultivation data to ensure reliable results. No major deviations were detected. However, no independent on-site verification was performed.
Please refer to the full LCA Report for details. For details on the background process please see the document "GaBi Databases Modelling Principles"The time reference of data collection differs regarding the considered regions. Time reference for India in general is 2011/2012, with some producer groups providing average data of several years. Data for the other countries refers to 2012/2013, China provides a five years average.NoneThe results of this study can be applied as a reference value for organic cotton production worldwide and shall be used with confidence in any further LCA studies e.g. along the value chain of the apparel industry. It should, however be noted that there is the need for consideration of modelling approaches that can affect the outcomes significantly, illustrated by different scenarios sprovided in the full LCA report. Absolute numbers should therefore always be interpreted with care and not be used as stand-alone indicators for simplified statements or unfounded decision making. It is strongly recommended to consider the full LCA Report (see LCA methodology report/ data handeling report) when using this dataset.All relevant flows quantifiedThe LCI method applied is in compliance with ISO 14040 and 14044. The documentation includes all relevant information in view of the data quality and scope of the application of the respective LCI result / data set. The dataset represents the state-of-the-art in view of the referenced functional unit. The assessment of data quality is based on the semi-quantitative assessment described in the ILCD handbook (ILCD 2010), Annex 12. The criterion for good data quality is defined as follows (ibid): meets the criterion to a high degree, having little yet significant need for improvement. This is to be judged in view of the criterion's contribution to the data set's potential overall environmental impact and in comparison to a hypothetical ideal data quality." Please refer to the ILCD handbook for further details on data quality indicators. The overall data quality using the data quality rating (DQR) suggested by ILCD 2010, would result in an overall data quality indicator of good (2.4). thinkstepLBP-GaBiIBP-GaBiLife Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Organic Cotton. A global average.SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW REPORT
Goal and scope of the review
The critical review was performed by a Panel composed by:
Paolo Masoni (ENEA, Italy), PM
Christian Schader, PhD (FiBL, Switzerland), CS
Niels Jungbluth, PhD (ESU-service, Switzerland), NJ
The critical review process shall ensure that:
the methods used to carry out the LCA are consistent with ISO 14040 and ISO 14044;
the methods used to carry out the LCA are scientifically and technically valid;
the data used are appropriate and reasonable in relation to the goal of the study;
the interpretations reflect the limitations identified and the goal of the study; and
the study report is transparent and consistent.
The Critical Review was performed during the LCA study.
The key moments when the panel issued an interim report with detailed comments are:
1) the goal and scope definition
2) the model set up and inventory calculation
3) inventory and impact assessment analysis
4) draft LCA report.
This Summary Critical Review Report, documenting the Critical Review process and find-ings and a Critical Review Statement shall be part of the final LCA report and is intended to be communicated to the public.
Method
The review was conducted during the LCA study in different steps.
Firstly, the Goal and Scope of the study was presented during a conference call among the Commissioner, the Practitioner and the Review Panel and documented in a draft report that was been commented, in particular with respect to the applicable standards, quality requirements, and methodological aspects.
The second step was the check of inventory data collected on farms and the illustration to the panel chair of the agricultural model implemented in GaBi by the Practitioner, with its characteristics, model principles and input parameters. A plausibility check was performed against literature data. Following the agricultural model presentation, additional sensitivity scenarios were recommended, to check the influence on the final results of some as-sumptions adopted in the agricultural model.
Third step was the review of the inventory data, modelling and impact assessment. That step highlighted a number of comments, mainly related to questions like the transparency of the study, interpretation of the results, and comparability issues with the conventional cotton study.
Lastly, the final version of the report was presented in a conference call with the participa-tion of the Commissioner and the Practitioner and reviewed in order to deliver the present Review Statement. The review included also the dataset prepared on the LCA results in ILCD format. The review was conducted on its documentation according to the ILCD Entry Level quality requirements.
Conference calls among the reviewers and with the Practitioners were organised anytime it was considered necessary either to find a consensus within the Panel or to clarify spe-cific technical aspects of the study.
In each of the above four mentioned steps, the Review Panel drafted a review report de-tailing all the comments and the responses from the practitioner. The Review Report was made available to the Commissioner of the study.
Results
The organic Cotton LCA study presents a great complexity due to its nature:
- Global scope: the results are the average of many countries, with a very large var-iability in cultural techniques and local conditions. We had a good vision of the ge-ographical differences with respect to some foreground data (e.g. yield differ-ences).
- Agricultural processes are very difficult to model because of the complexity of rela-tion among input (soil, fertilizers, water, weather, etc) and output (crop).
- Many emissions cannot be measured on field but must be estimated using models
Because of that great complexity, the final numerical results may be affected by the mod-elling choices and by different assumptions. The study is based on a reference model, where the sound assumptions are adopted, and is supplemented with a number of sensi-tivity analyses, where the effect of the variation of data and assumptions are measured.
During the review process, because of the complexity of the study, many comments have been raised, with specific focus on key aspects as methodological choices, transparency of the report, comparability and assertions in the interpretation.
Almost all the comments has been accepted and implemented in the final report.
Conclusions
The panel review considers the LCA study of Organic Cotton to be compliant with ISO 14044. In particular, the methods used to carry out the LCA are scientifically and techni-cally valid, the data used are appropriate and reasonable in relation to the goal of the study, the interpretations reflect the limitations identified and the goal of the study, and the study report is transparent and consistent and suitable for publication with the inclusion of the Review Report.
Paolo Masoni Christian SchaderNiels JungbluthLife Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Organic Cotton. A global average.GaBi conformity systemFully compliantFully compliantFully compliantFully compliantFully compliantNot definedUNEP SETAC Life Cycle InitiativeNot definedNot definedNot definedNot definedNot definedNot definedILCD Data Network - Entry-levelNot definedFully compliantFully compliantNot definedFully compliantNot definedthinkstepTextile ExchangeLife Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Organic Cotton A global average.The results of this study can be applied as a reference value for organic cotton production worldwide and shall be used with confidence in any further LCA studies e.g. along the value chain of the apparel industry. It should, however be noted that there is the need for consideration of modelling approaches that can affect the outcomes significantly, illustrated by different scenarios sprovided in the full LCA report. Absolute numbers should therefore always be interpreted with care and not be used as stand-alone indicators for simplified statements or unfounded decision making. It is strongly recommended to consider the full LCA Report (see LCA methodology report/ data handeling report) when using this dataset.thinkstepLBP-GaBi2016-01-01T00:00:00+01:00ILCD format 1.1thinkstepNo official approval by producer or operator2016-01-01T00:00:00+01:0010.00.000Data set finalised; entirely publishedGaBi databasesTextile ExchangetrueOtherGaBi (source code, database including extension modules and single data sets, documentation) remains property of thinkstep AG. thinkstep AG delivers GaBi licenses comprising data storage medium and manual as ordered by the customer. The license guarantees the right of use for one installation of GaBi. Further installations using the same license are not permitted. Additional licenses are only valid if the licensee holds at least one main license. Licenses are not transferable and must only be used within the licensee's organisation. Data sets may be copied for internal use. The number of copies is restricted to the number of licenses of the software system GaBi the licensee owns. The right of use is exclusively valid for the licensee. All rights reserved.Cotton fiber (ginned)Output100010000.000Mixed primary / secondaryUnknown derivation