Product Overview of Higg Index Tools on the Worldly Platform
The Higg Index tools, integrated into the Worldly platform, are comprehensive solutions designed to help businesses, particularly in the apparel, outdoor, home goods, and other consumer goods industries, measure, manage, and reduce their environmental and social impacts.
What the Product Does
The Higg Index tools are part of a broader impact intelligence platform that collects high-resolution primary data specific to companies’ value chains, operations, and products. This data provides insights into the true environmental and social impacts across various metrics such as carbon, water, chemistry, and labor.
Key Features and Functionality
Higg Product Tools
- Higg Material Sustainability Index (MSI) and Higg Product Module (PM): These tools use peer-reviewed life-cycle assessment data to quantify the environmental impacts of materials and products from raw material extraction through manufacturing, finishing, assembly, and end-of-use. They identify hotspots for improvement and provide metrics on biogenic carbon content and water consumption.
Higg Facility Environmental Module (FEM)
- Comprehensive Environmental Assessment: The Higg FEM 4.0 is the industry’s most comprehensive environmental assessment, helping manufacturers collect and report data on their environmental performance. It includes logic-based questions tailored to the specific processes and functions of each facility, ensuring only relevant data is reported. The module addresses key environmental issues such as groundwater and soil contamination, the phasing out of coal and fossil fuels, and approaches to carbon offsets and rainwater harvesting.
- Data Accuracy and Guidance: The tool features embedded question guidance and automatic error detection based on historical data points, ensuring accurate and reliable reporting. Support resources, including training, FAQs, and how-to guides, are available to facilitate the assessment process.
Supply Impacts Feature
- Supply Chain Visibility: This feature allows brands, retailers, and manufacturers to allocate a percentage of a facility’s production to specific brands, products, or geographic regions. It calculates greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption, and energy use at facilities, providing detailed insights into the environmental impacts of supply chain operations.
Integration with Worldly Platform
- Facility Data Manager (FDM): This tool provides timely data and insights to accelerate environmental impact reduction and facilitate supply chain collaboration. It helps ensure compliance with corporate codes of conduct and prepares businesses for corporate disclosure and regulatory requirements.
- Product Impact Calculator (PIC): The PIC offers a scalable approach to Scope 3 emissions calculations, using industry expertise and primary data from the supply chain. It allows for quick initial assessments using purchase order records and more precise measurements by incorporating Higg FEM and MSI data.
Benefits
- Detailed Impact Analysis: Provides comprehensive insights into environmental and social impacts across the entire product lifecycle and supply chain.
- Customized Assessments: Tailored to the specific needs and processes of each facility, reducing unnecessary data collection.
- Improved Accuracy: Automatic error detection and guidance ensure reliable and accurate reporting.
- Compliance and Disclosure: Helps businesses comply with emerging regulatory and financial disclosure requirements.
- Sustainability Improvement: Identifies hotspots for improvement, enabling continuous reduction in environmental footprint and enhancement of sustainable performance.
The Higg Index tools on the Worldly platform are essential for businesses aiming to scale responsibility into their global operations, reduce their environmental and social impacts, and meet the expectations of a new generation of customers.