Product Overview of Cascale
Introduction
Cascale, formerly known as the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), is a global non-profit alliance dedicated to driving sustainability in the consumer goods industry. With a membership of over 300 organizations, Cascale has expanded its scope to include the home furnishings, sporting and outdoor goods, and bags and luggage sectors, in addition to its core focus on the apparel and footwear industry.
Key Product: The Higg Index
The cornerstone of Cascale’s offerings is the Higg Index, a comprehensive suite of tools designed to measure, track, and improve the social and environmental impacts of value chains and products. Developed in collaboration with its multi-stakeholder membership, the Higg Index provides a standardized approach for sustainability assessment.
Key Features and Functionality
Higg Index Suite of Tools
The Higg Index consists of several modules, each targeting different aspects of sustainability:
- Higg Facility Environmental Module (Higg FEM): Assesses environmental impacts such as energy use, water consumption, and waste management. The latest version, Higg FEM 4.0, offers a more comprehensive and customized reporting experience, aligned with key frameworks like the GHG Protocol.
- Higg Facility Social & Labor Module (Higg FSLM): Evaluates social and labor practices within facilities, incorporating the Converged Assessment Framework (CAF) to reduce audit fatigue and enhance data comparison.
- Higg Materials Sustainability Index (Higg MSI): Provides a detailed assessment of the environmental impacts of materials used in products, utilizing data from various sources including GaBi and user contributions.
- Higg Product Module: Allows for the modeling of product life cycle assessments using the industry’s largest materials library.
- Higg Brand & Retail Module (Higg BRM): Offers a holistic view of a brand’s social and environmental impacts, providing a single score out of 100 along with detailed breakdowns per pillar and impact area.
Data Quality and Verification
Cascale and its technology partner, Worldly, have implemented measures to enhance data quality across the Higg Index ecosystem. This includes preventing inaccurate data entry, ensuring verification processes deliver high confidence in data quality, and providing tools for data sharing and analytics.
User Access and Subscriptions
The platform offers various subscription plans, including Basic, Essentials, and Advanced, catering to different user needs. Users can purchase subscriptions for themselves or others, and there are options for verification bodies to access and verify shared assessments efficiently.
Integration and Automation
For brands managing large amounts of data, Cascale provides an Assessments API that allows for automated integration with supplier management systems, streamlining the assessment process and saving time.
Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing
Cascale fosters a collaborative environment where members can share best practices, engage in collective action, and contribute to industry-wide transformation. The organization hosts regular meetings and updates the Higg Index tools based on industry feedback and emerging global regulations.
Benefits
- Standardized Sustainability Measurement: Ensures that brands, retailers, and manufacturers use a common language for sustainability measurement and performance.
- Improved Data Precision: Aligns with key industry standards and enhances audit efficiency.
- Comprehensive Impact Assessment: Covers 11 key areas across environmental impacts, social impacts, and governance.
- Global Reach: Supports over 24,000 organizations across 33 countries, with more than 40,000 users.
- Continuous Improvement: Regular updates and enhancements based on industry needs and regulatory changes.
In summary, Cascale’s Higg Index is a powerful toolset that enables organizations to measure, track, and improve their social and environmental impacts, fostering a more sustainable consumer goods industry through standardized assessments, data quality measures, and collaborative action.