Better Cotton Initiative boosts regenerative focus, updates standard

P&C v.3.2, which came into effect on April 1, follows an independent assessment of BCI’s standard against recognised regenerative programmes and industry-wide consultations to ensure alignment on the proposed changes.

“Our P&C is a living resource routinely updated to remain relevant and reflective of farmer realities. As climate change threatens farming communities, we have gone further to strengthen their focus on continuous improvement in relation to the principles of regenerative agriculture throughout our field-level standard,” Jannis Bellinghausen, BCI’s senior director of standards system integrity, said in a release from the organisation.

Better Cotton Initiative has launched a new version of its principles and criteria (P&C), marking the next step in the organisation’s journey to becoming a regenerative standards system.
P&C v.3.2, which came into effect on April 1, follows an independent assessment of BCI’s standard against recognised regenerative programmes and industry-wide consultations to ensure alignment on the proposed changes.

BCI’s P&C already covered soil health, biodiversity and natural habitats, water, pesticides and fertilisers use, and, where relevant, livestock. All these areas remain central to the standard.

The updated P&C strengthens the existing requirement of farmers to demonstrate continuous improvement by ensuring they place greater focus on regenerative agriculture when setting targets and annual activities.

Further updates to the field-level standard were made to the P&C’s management, natural resources, crop protection and decent work sections to enhance clarity and auditability.

In June 2025, BCI announced that it would transition to become a regenerative standards system at its conference in Izmir, Turkiye.

BCI head offices are in the United Kingdom and Switzerland.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)