Improving Visibility in Cotton Supply Chains to Achieve Transparency: The Kappahl Pilot Project

The supply chains that underlie today’s complex global economy remain largely unknown and undisclosed, even to the businesses directly involved. But a detailed understanding of the networks that bring products to market is critical to advancing sustainable production and consumption. Businesses are increasingly interested in improving their supply chain visibility and transparency to demonstrate their commitment to good environmental, social, and governance practices. The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) collaborated with Swedish clothing retailer Kappahl to address this challenge and advance visibility in cotton supply chains.

Phase 1: Mapping supply chain actors and collecting sustainability data

In the first phase of the pilot project, IISD worked with Kappahl and Sphera (formerly SupplyShift) to map the supply chains of four of Kappahl’s Tier 1 garment suppliers in Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka for their Newbie line of organic cotton baby apparel. The project resulted in enhanced visibility, down to the spinner or ginner, and collected information on organic certification, greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption, and wages.

Key lessons learned were that mid-tier suppliers need information to understand why sustainability data collection matters, long-term trust and collaboration are critical, and training and support are imperative for successful implementation. The findings from this phase of the project are outlined in this brief.

Phase 2: Tracking and reporting working hours and emissions

Given these findings, IISD and Kappahl designed a second phase of the pilot project focused on mid-tier supplier engagement and training to strengthen their participation and data quality. IISD developed two training videos to help suppliers better track and report their working hours and greenhouse gas emissions.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Tracking and Reporting

In the face of climate change, companies are now required to report their supply-level greenhouse gas emissions. This video explains what greenhouse gas emissions are, why tracking and reporting them matters, and how to do it. Click the links below to navigate directly to different chapters:

• Introduction
• What are greenhouse gas emissions? 
• Why does accurate reporting matter? 
• How are greenhouse gas emissions calculated? 
• What data do you need and how can you collect it? 
• After the data is collected, what comes next?

Working Hours Reporting

As expectations around responsible business practices grow, working hours transparency is becoming increasingly important. This video explains why accurate working hours data matters and shares best practices for collecting and managing it. Click the links below to navigate directly to different chapters:

• Introduction 
• Why does accurate reporting matter? 
• What does best practice for working-hours reporting look like? 
• What should you keep in mind when recording and verifying data in reporting platforms?