Ecological footprint of cotton and cotton fibres

ifeu paper 01/2022

Authors: Julian Senn, Guido Reinhardt, Sven Gärtner

The environmental impact of the textile industry has increasingly become the subject of public debate in recent years. Cotton in particular, as one of the most widely used fibres in the manufacture of clothing and home textiles, plays a significant role in the environmental impact of textile production. However, current consistent derivations of the ecological footprint of cotton production worldwide cannot be found and the results of existing studies vary widely. In this ifeu paper, the most important ecological footprints for conventionally and organically grown cotton and cotton fibres produced worldwide are consistently derived. In addition to the carbon footprint, which is important from a climate protection perspective, other environmental impact categories such as the water, land and phosphate footprints are also considered.