Sustainability reporting has changed significantly over the past few years, and as a result, the Australian Cotton industry is revamping its PLANET PEOPLE PADDOCK sustainability data framework to directly align the reporting standards and guidance we think customers of Australian food and fibre are most likely to use.

This project is being designed as a proof of concept for other Australian agricultural sustainability frameworks and agribusinesses to adopt, so we can work together to avoid duplication and inconsistency.

Our new sustainability data framework will have environmental, social and economic data for the extent and condition, impact and dependency, and risk and opportunity indicators new reporting standards will increasingly be asking for.

Our aim is to create a single source of sustainability data that can be used for multiple purposes, including:

  • Making it easier for customers of Australian food and fibre to access the sustainability reporting data they need within their complex global supply chain. Phase 1 will start with “information grade” industry average data; Phase 2 will provide much finer data from every field that grows cotton, which stakeholders can pay for as data quality moves from information grade to “investment grade”.
  • Creating industry-scale natural and social capital assessments to give farmers a clearer picture of the positive and negative impacts of their farm management practices
  • Measuring the outcomes of natural and social capital “regenerative” practices, so we can all focus on impacts instead of labels
  • Producing integrated sustainability reports to more clearly show the links and trade-offs between natural, social, and financial capital
  • Providing a scientifically robust narrative to mitigate the risk of sustainability being used as a trade barrier.

This is an ambitious project. Measuring natural and social capital at scale is difficult, and it will take several years to get the high-quality data needed. But rather than wait for data perfection, we aim to deliver the framework populated with relatively coarse industry-scale data this year so we can work with our stakeholders to understand how these new concepts add value to all of us, and how we can improve.

We are regularly sharing the outputs so others can learn from and contribute to our work.

Key project outputs will be shared below as the project progresses. If you’d like more information or to provide comment, please contact [email protected].

Completed Milestone outputs:

Future Milestone outputs will include:

  • Natural and social capital valuation methods
  • Draft natural and social capital assessment
  • Draft science based targets for consultation
  • Integrated Report.

This project is supported by the Cotton Research and Development Corporation, through funding from the Australian Government’s National Agriculture Traceability Grants Program and the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries.