Schneider Electric to Develop Web-Based Higg Index

Sustainable Apparel Coalition

by | Sep 26, 2013

This article is included in these additional categories:

Sustainable Apparel CoalitionThe Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) has selected Schneider Electric to develop a web-based version of the SAC’s sustainability assessment tool, the Higg Index 2.0, for the apparel and footwear industries.

The web-based tool, which will use Schneider Electric’s sustainability and energy management software platform, StruxureWare Resource Advisor, will improve these industries’ sustainability decision making, SAC executive director Jason Kibbey says.

The coalition, which was created in March 2011 by nearly 30 manufacturers and retailers including Nike, Target and Levi’s, currently has more than 90 members, the majority of which are global brands and retailers. These include Adidas, Gap, H&M, Kohl’s, Marks & Spencer, Nordstrom and REI.

The Higg Index is a self-assessment tool designed to measure the sustainability impacts of apparel and footwear products and encourage supply chain transparency. The SAC says it hopes to facilitate industry-wide adoption of the Higg Index.

With Schneider Electric as its development partner, the SAC says it has additional resources to help companies:

  • Understand and quantify the sustainability impacts of apparel and footwear products.
  • Reduce redundancy in measuring sustainability in apparel and footwear industries.
  • Drive business value through reducing risk and uncovering efficiencies.
  • Create a common means and language to communicate sustainability to stakeholders.

VF Corporation last year announced it will use Schneider Electric’s online energy management and sustainability platform to track energy, water and emissions data across all of its brands including The North Face, Timberland and Wrangler.

In June, the SAC launched the Materials Sustainability Index (MSI) web tool as a new component to the Higg Index suite of sustainability tools.

The interactive platform visualizes and compares the quantitative section of the MSI scores used in the Higg Index. The goal of the MSI web tool is to increase transparency into how the quantitative scores of the MSI are derived, as well as allow a means for anyone in the public domain to submit new data to the SAC to improve the quality of the scores. It is open-source, allowing users to contribute new data, help improve the quality of current data and access the data underlying the MSI scores.

 

Additional articles you will be interested in.

Stay Informed

Get E+E Leader Articles delivered via Newsletter right to your inbox!

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Share This