A key component of the Higg Index toolkit, the Higg Brand and Retail Module (Higg BRM), has been updated by Cascale to better conform to changing sustainability regulations. By addressing the changing issues that its members and the larger consumer products sector face, the yearly update exemplifies Cascale’s dedication to ongoing progress.
While the alignment with European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) offers support on Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) obligations, the Higg BRM offers a thorough method for monitoring sustainability progress. It is well known for being one of the top frameworks for monitoring and evaluating Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance for retailers and brands in the textile, clothing, and footwear sectors. By minimising duplication across various sustainability projects, the Higg BRM enables users to develop consistent plans. It is a component of Cascale’s Higg Index toolkit, which is only accessible on Worldly, a platform for consumer products sustainability data insights.
Cascale has added 36 new unscored optional questions to guarantee more comprehensive disclosures without affecting comparability to previous Higg BRM assessments, while also expanding the Higg BRM advice and improving terminology to better align with ESRS disclosure requirements. Up to 78 per cent of ESRS data points are currently covered by the Higg BRM; the remaining content is either non-material (7 per cent), or relates to financial concerns outside of its purview (15 per cent).
To help businesses understand how the tool may fulfil CSRD reporting requirements, Cascale has also released a white paper outlining the alignment between the Higg BRM and ESRS. The white paper analyses ESRS 1 and ESRS 2, offers a structured analysis of the Higg BRM to ESRS alignment, and describes how the Higg BRM supports important ideas like double materiality or creating a governance framework. Additionally, it discusses Topical Standards, providing important information on ESG topics unique to the textile, clothing, and footwear sectors.
In order to facilitate the mapping of ESRS data points with Higg BRM questions, the Higg BRM 2024 release also adds tags to the Worldly platform. The platform continues to provide benchmarking capabilities and year-over-year tracking of short-term and long-term sustainability targets to promote meaningful change, and it is still in line with important industry standards such as the Textile Exchange’s Material Benchmark and the ZDHC Brands to Zero initiative.
