Barons: The carbon footprint of Generation 4

Getting started

A while ago, we calculated the carbon footprint of Barons' four different shirts. One of the most important takeaways from the analysis was that cotton was by far the largest item in the shirts' carbon footprint. Since organic cotton uses far fewer chemicals, its carbon footprint is significantly smaller than that of conventional cotton. That's why we suggested to Barons that their focus for the next generation of their shirts should be to switch production from their current PIMA cotton from California to organic cotton - which they have done and switched to organic cotton from Egypt.

In addition to the switch to organic cotton, Barons has worked intensively to make the entire value chain 100% transparent so that they can control all processes to a much greater extent. This is also extremely important in the context of a carbon footprint - it means that some of the uncertainty associated with carbon calculations is eliminated.

Finally, the plastic in both buttons and shipping bags has been switched to recycled plastic instead of new plastic as it was before.

Based on the above changes, we revisited the old calculations with Barons and corrected them to make it possible to follow the changes in the carbon footprint.

Limits of the calculation & functional unit

We follow the same method as in the previous calculations. If you want to read about it, you can follow the link here. The most important thing to keep in mind is that the result of the calculations here is the carbon footprint related to materials, production and transportation. 

The results

Below are the results of the changes Barons has made from Generation 3 to 4. In particular, the switch to organic cotton has made a big difference to the carbon footprint.

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As there is now greater transparency in the value chain, no uncertainty has been added to the CO2 emissions from Generation 4 in the above. However, the uncertainty can be just as present in the emission factors and any "unknown unknowns". Therefore, the comparison between the figures with the same uncertainty factor is also relevant to look at:

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In conclusion, Barons has succeeded in reducing CO2 emissions from their products by 28-44% with few but important initiatives.

Reduction proposals

With the shift in raw materials, it becomes clearer that processing also has a large role to play in the overall carbon footprint. Spinning and finishing are particularly energy-intensive. These are not processes you can avoid, but you can make sure that the CO2 intensity of the electricity used is as low as possible. Right now, the processes are primarily in countries with a high CO2 intensity in the energy grid. A recommendation for further CO2 reductions is therefore either to move production to countries with a lot of renewable energy in the power grid (which does not significantly lengthen transportation) or make sure that some of the energy is covered by renewable energy: for example, own solar cells that cover part of the consumption.

You can read more about Baron's sustainability initiatives here .

Assumptions

Since we have not been able to get first-hand data from all parts of the process, it has been necessary to make some assumptions. The most important ones are here:

- Assuming that there is a textile loss of 13%, 3% and 10% in spinning, finishing and sewing respectively.
- Assuming that spinning and knitting take place in the same place.
- As the main CO2 emissions from organic cotton are from the energy used in harvesting etc, the emissions are highly dependent on the CO2 intensity of the electricity grid. Therefore, the CO2 emissions from organic cotton are scaled up by the difference between the CO2 intensity in California and Egypt.

Data

Emission factors:
- Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 2020
- California ISO
- OECOTEXTILES
- Moro, A., Lonza, L. Electricity carbon intensity in European Member States: Impacts on GHG emissions of electric vehicles

Process

- Baydara, G., Cilizab, N. & Mammadovab, A. Cotton Ginners Handbook‍

- Mayfield W., Anthony, W.S. Life cycle assessment of cotton textile products in Turkey