Cascale has released version 3.11 of the Higg Materials Sustainability Index (Higg MSI), introducing new cotton datasets and expanded material categories for home furnishings. The update enhances data accuracy and supports more informed, science-based material choices across the consumer goods industry.
Part of Cascale’s Higg Index suite, the Higg MSI is the industry’s most widely used standardized framework for measuring material impacts – from raw material extraction through manufacturing and finishing. Updated twice yearly, the tool ensures users have access to the most credible, current data available. The Higg MSI is exclusively hosted on Worldly, the leading sustainability data and analytics platform.
“With this update, we’re advancing a more comprehensive, data-driven understanding of material impacts across sectors,” said Jeremy Lardeau, vice president of Higg Index at Cascale. “The improved cotton datasets address a long-standing data gap and represent the power of collective work to strengthen the industry’s access to credible, comparable information.”
New Materials Categories and Updated Datasets
To enhance accuracy and material diversity across the tool, the Higg MSI v3.11 introduces new materials categories that are especially relevant to home furnishing manufacturers, including mineral-based materials such as stoneware, natural stone, glass ceramic, porcelain, and container glass.
“Reliable data is the foundation of responsible sourcing,” said Scarlette Tapp, Scarlette Tapp, Executive Director, Sustainable Furnishings Council, where key assets were acquired by Cascale in September. “Continued evolution of the Higg MSI represents progress toward a stronger value chain for the home furnishings and wider consumer goods industry.”
MSI v3.11 also includes updated modeling for nylon and polyester and expanded data for cotton and leather. Its new cotton datasets were modeled according to Cascale’s industry-aligned Cotton LCA methodology, which was published in October 2024. The cotton methodology was the product of over three years of collaboration between Cascale and key industry stakeholders in order to:
- Define LCA Data Source requirements to reduce the dependence on costly full LCA reports and landscape existing data collection efforts.
- Define modeling approaches and clearly document what primary data is required, and what secondary datasets and assumptions are used in the LCA model.
- Define data use to facilitate better informed design, sourcing and sustainability decisions, and track field practice improvements over time.
- Consider metrics beyond LCA to complement the Higg MSI LCA data.
“Improving access to farm-level data supports hotspot analysis and can help key stakeholders, especially brand members, in their science-based reporting and evaluation of their selected materials,” said Miguel Gómez-Escolar Viejo, Head of Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) at the Better Cotton Initiative. “Working with Cascale to increase data availability following an industry aligned methodology, particularly from smallholder contexts, strengthens collaboration with our brand partners.”
Updated Midpoints and Scores
Additionally, all midpoints and scores were changed to align with the updated LCA for Experts (formerly GaBi) database. Because background datasets such as raw materials and energy were updated, score changes of around ±10% can be expected.
Cascale members and Higg MSI users can learn more about the latest updates by visiting the Higg MSI Change Log.
