As the fashion industry shifts from broad pledges to verifiable impact, the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol has released its 2024/25 Annual Report—its most comprehensive yet. The five-year analysis confirms that more than 1,500 participating growers have delivered substantial environmental improvements, offering brands credible, traceable data increasingly required under regulations such as the EU CSRD and emerging Scope 3 standards.
Against a 2015 baseline, Trust Protocol growers have met or exceeded five of six 2025 National Goals—in several cases ahead of schedule. Key results include:
• Achieved a 15% improvement in land-use efficiency a year early.
• 87% improvement in water-use efficiency, producing the same cotton with 47% less irrigation.
• 28% reduction in energy use.
• 89% reduction in soil loss, now well below USDA thresholds.
• 25% reduction in GHG emissions, driven by optimised nitrogen and smarter irrigation.
Crucially, these gains did not reduce output—Protocol growers produced 20% more cotton per acre than the U.S. average, reinforcing that sustainability and productivity can be mutually reinforcing.
The data arrives as brands face unprecedented disclosure challenges. Under CSRD, companies must report transparent, audit-ready data across their entire value chain—especially Scope 3 emissions. The Trust Protocol provides:
• verified field-level data,
• traceability to the bale,
• alignment with SBT and due diligence frameworks, and
• partnerships with ISEAL, Cascale, Textile Exchange and Field to Market to create a Climate-Focused Data Integrity Framework.
This bolsters confidence in brands making environmental claims and seeking credible pathways to Scope 3 decarbonization.
This alignment is already resonating. In 2024/25, Protocol traceability adoption surged by 413%, with 126,000 tons of Protocol cotton traced across 690 million finished products by 20 brands.
The Trust Protocol is scaling its regenerative agriculture work through a new pilot that traces both practices and measurable outcomes, using a dual-framework aligned with Field to Market standards. Minimum requirements cover soil health, water, synthetic inputs and biodiversity, with full rollout planned for 2026.
By elevating data integrity and expanding regenerative sourcing options, the Trust Protocol is positioning U.S. cotton as one of the most transparently measured and sustainably verified fibres in the world—an increasingly valuable proposition as global legislation tightens and brands seek dependable, evidence-based partners in their sustainability journey.
