A newly released Lifecycle assessment of United States cotton fiber production is giving growers, brands, and retailers a deeper look at the environmental impacts of cotton production—and according to Dr. Jesse Daystar of Cotton Incorporated, the findings show U.S. cotton is positioned strongly when it comes to sustainability and transparency.
Speaking with associate farm reporter Carli Davenport, Dr. Jesse Daystar, Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer for Cotton Incorporated, described the newly released assessment as “the most comprehensive data-driven LCA of U.S. cotton production.”
“It took a lot of growers to provide their data” Daystar said. “We synthesize that information and turned it into an ISO conformant lifecycle assessment report that has been reviewed by experts and is focused on cradle to gate.”
According to Daystar, the report relied on participation from 753 cotton growers across 17 cotton-producing states. “About 753 growers actually volunteered their data, which is really helpful in us creating this analysis and completing the results,” he said, noting the study represents cotton production across 17 states of the cotton belt.
Cotton’s Environmental Impact
Daystar explained that the assessment was designed to identify where environmental impacts occur during cotton production, particularly greenhouse gas emissions and water use. “This one was to really examine where do the impacts of cotton production occur,” Daystar said.
He explained that one of the biggest findings centered on fertilizer. “We found that they really are driven by fertilizer production, the creation of nitrogen fertilizer, for example,” he said. “Then also, when you apply that fertilizer in the field, some of it turns into nitrous oxide instead of going into the plant where you want it.”
Daystar called those areas “two of the major hotspots for greenhouse gas emissions.”
On water use, he said irrigation stood out as another major factor. “Irrigation has obviously shown to be a certain amount of water used, and that creates kind of the hotspot there,” he explained.
Why U.S. Cotton Has a Net Negative Carbon Footprint
One of the report’s headline findings is that U.S. cotton demonstrated a net negative cradle-to-gate carbon footprint.
Daystar said that means cotton removes more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere during production than is released through farming and processing activities. “When you look at the overall cradle-to-gate lifecycle, cotton pulls in CO₂ from the atmosphere through photosynthesis and actually stores that in cotton fiber,” Daystar said.
He explained that fossil carbon emissions still occur during production through fuel, fertilizer manufacturing, and processing. “During production you have the diesel on the field, fertilizer production, ginning energy—those things release CO₂,” he said. “Meanwhile, when you grow cotton, photosynthesis pulls CO₂ out of the atmosphere and fixates it in the cotton stalks, the cotton seed, and ultimately the cotton fiber.”
That carbon, he said, remains stored for a period of time in cotton products. “It’s turned into a garment. We use those garments, we get the garments in our closets for a period of time, and ultimately you can recycle it or dispose of it,” Daystar said.
Still, he noted an important caveat. “That carbon is stored for a period of time in our clothing, but not forever, so that will be released at a later point,” he explained. “How you account for those emissions, there is some nuance, but it’s pretty cool that cotton can do that.”
A Tool to Build Trust in U.S. Cotton
For producers, Daystar said the larger takeaway is that the assessment provides data to document improvements and strengthen confidence in U.S.-grown cotton.
“U.S. cotton, I think, is really a shining star amongst the landscape of cotton production areas in terms of their efficiency, the regulations, and we need to talk about that,” he said.
He added that the lifecycle assessment provides credible information for brands and retailers evaluating sustainability claims.
“The lifecycle assessment gives data to really put to that conversation that helps brands be more trusting of U.S. cotton,” Daystar said. “The data is there really like no other region, so it instills trust.”
Daystar said that transparency will become increasingly important moving forward as companies look for fibers backed by documented sustainability information.
“We likely will be doing this in the future to stay on top of this compliance issue and to really show off all the great work that cotton producers are doing across the cotton belt,” he said.
Beyond the report itself, Daystar said Cotton Incorporated plans to continue improving how cotton sustainability is measured and communicated. “We’re just trying to position cotton as the compliant-ready fiber that solves a lot of the environmental issues we have today,” he said, adding that cotton provides an alternative to synthetic fibers that “release microfibers, micro plastics in the environment.”
The full study is added below, and for any additional information, events, and webinars, visit Cotton Inc.’s website here.
