In two years Brazil will have a national benchmark and regional models for cotton´s carbon footprint in its different forms (seed, lint and oil). This program integrates the Brazilian cotton farming’s production models using primary data from cotton farmers and internationally recognized methodologies such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). 

This is an initiative taken by the Brazilian Cotton Growers Association in partnership with the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) – a Brazilian Government agency. The Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries (Abiove) and the Bayer company are also part of the project. 

One of the challenges in calculating the carbon footprint of Brazilian cotton is the characterization of the Brazilian production system and the regional diversity. An example of this is the state of Mato Grosso, located in the Cerrado biome.

Mato Grosso is the largest Brazilian cotton producing state, with a harvest of 2.65 million tonnes of cotton (just over 72% of the whole Brazilian harvest) in 2023/24. In this state, cotton is part of a double cropping system with more than one summer crop in the same farming season. Inputs are therefore optimized with other crops and rotated with cover crops.   

Abrapa’s initiative will now roll out a methodology developed by Embrapa and Bayer focusing on cotton throughout the country. By including Abiove in this process, there will be an added differential whereby the industrial oil extraction stages have been included in the calculation. 

“This initiative reinforces our commitment to sustainability and productive efficiency, demonstrating our commitment to producing more in an increasingly more responsible way,” highlighted Abrapa president Alexandre Schenkel. 

It is worth highlighting the scope of Brazilian cotton, since today Brazil is the world’s largest exporter of cotton and the third largest producer of this fibre. In the 2023/24 season, Abrapa estimates a production of 3.68 million tonnes of cotton lint. In the same cycle, 2.68 million tonnes were exported (28% of the world total). 

“An accurate diagnosis of Brazilian cotton’s carbon footprint will be essential to demonstrate cotton’s sustainability compared with its main competitor in the market, polyester, which is derivative of petroleum,” explains Fabio Carneiro, Sustainability Manager at Abrapa. 

In addition to cotton farming itself, the program benefits another important Brazilian economic sector: biofuel production. The diagnosis of emissions in cottonseed oil extraction, with the identification of technical parameters, will be used as a benchmark to update the measurement calculations by RenovaBio, a Brazilian program for decarbonizing the energy grid. 

The national project to calculate Brazilian cotton’s carbon footprint was officially launched this week during the event Carbon Science Talks, promoted by Bayer in Campinas (SP). The aim of the meeting was to debate solutions so that Brazilian agriculture can contribute to mitigating climate change, thus strengthening the low-carbon economy. Participants included researchers, universities, leaders from the agro-industrial sector and experts in sustainability and technology.