Cascale’s Higg BRM offers a structured method for monitoring progress in sustainability and its alignment with the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) is expected to help fashion brands and retailers follow the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) mandates.
With these changes, Cascale has broadened the scope of guidance within the Higg BRM and fine-tuned the language to enhance harmony with ESRS reporting criteria.
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There are also 36 new voluntary questions that do not affect scoring that have been incorporated to enable more thorough reporting while maintaining the ability to compare with past Higg BRM evaluations.
The updated module now encompasses up to 78% of ESRS indicators, excluding content that pertains to financial subjects outside its purview (15%), or issues deemed non-material (7%).
The Higg BRM revision is part of an annual update, Cascale said.
Cascale Higg Index strategy and operations senior director Maravillas Rodriguez Zarco stated: “We have updated the Higg BRM to enhance its alignment with ESRS. This is a powerful resource that empowers organisations to make data-driven decisions. We encourage brands and retailers to leverage the full potential of the Higg BRM as a supporting tool in their reporting journey under CSRD.”
The Higg BRM tool is a framework for tracking environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance in the textile, fashion, and footwear sectors.
Users of the Higg BRM can develop strategies and avoid redundancy across various sustainability efforts.
The suite of tools is exclusively accessible on Worldly, the premier platform for sustainability data insights in consumer goods.
Moreover, Cascale has released a white paper detailing how the Higg BRM aligns with ESRS, aiding companies in understanding its utility for CSRD reporting.
The document breaks down this alignment, delves into ESRS 1 and ESRS 2 standards, and discusses how the module supports essential concepts like double materiality and governance frameworks. It also explores topical standards relevant to the textile, fashion, and footwear industries.
The 2024 update introduces tags on Worldly to facilitate mapping between ESRS data points and Higg BRM questions.
The tool continues to align with key industry frameworks such as Textile Exchange’s Material Benchmark and ZDHC Brands to Zero programme. It provides benchmarking features and enables year-over-year tracking of sustainability goals to promote meaningful change. Cascale added verification of the Higg BRM remains available and is recommended for users.
Last year, Cascale published a research document outlining the capabilities of its Higg BRM in aiding companies and retailers with compliance to the reporting requirements mandated by the European Union Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).
