Industry And Cluster | News & Insights

HIGG INDEX 3.0

Published: March 16, 2020

Author: TEXTILE VALUE CHAIN

Higg Facility Environmental Module (Higg FEM) Version 3.0

The Higg Facility Environmental Module (Higg FEM) is a sustainability assessment tool that standardizes how facilities measure and evaluate their environmental performance, year over year.

The Higg FEM is designed to:

Measure and quantify the sustainability impacts of a facility
Reduce redundancy in measuring and reporting sustainability performance
Drive business value through reducing risk and uncovering efficiencies
Create a common language and system to communicate sustainability to stakeholders

The Higg FEM Measures:

Environmental Management Systems
Energy / GHG
Water Use
Wastewater
Air Emissions
Waste
Chemicals Management

Higg FEM Consists of three sections:

Continuous Improvement Sections:

Know your sources
Know major drivers of use
Baseline your performance
Set targets and action plan
Demonstrate reductions
Demonstrate leading practice

Pollutant Limits

Know your sources and volumes
Know quality of pollutants (permit/standard)
Control quality / take specific actions
Demonstrate leading practice (best available
equipment, aspirational standard)

Management Sections

Have right staff in place
Adhere to the rules (regulations, laws, brand requirements)
Have long-term, holistic strategies and action plans in place
Take specific management actions (e.g., storage, handling, maintain equipment, etc.)
Demonstrate leading practice (e.g., engage upstream and with community, innovation, deep traceability)

The Higg Environmental Management System (EMS) section requires you to:

Identify staff responsible for coordinating environmental management activities and ensure technical competence
Identify significant environmental impacts associated with current operations
Set a long-term environmental management strategy
Develop a system to ensure compliance with all laws, regulations, standards, codes and other legislative and regulatory requirements
Continuously maintain all factory equipment
Engage facility leadership and workers on environmental strategy and performance
Engage with subcontractors and upstream suppliers on environmental performance using the Higg Index
Engage with local stakeholders on environmental performance improvements
Mostly Yes/No questions
Some “Partial Yes” answer options in this section (guidance in the question hint and How to Higg guide)
Some supporting documentation uploads are required for answering “Yes” or “Partial Yes” to a question – required uploads will be marked with:

The Higg Energy and GHG section requires you to:

Track all energy and fuel sources and report quantity used in the last calendar year
Identify which factors contribute most to energy use on site (e.g., machines, processes, or operations that use the most energy)
Set a normalized baseline for energy use, such as “80 MJ per unit of production in 2016”
Set normalized targets for energy reduction, such as “Reduce energy used per unit of production by 70% in 2020.”
Set an action plan with specific actions and strategies to achieve energy reduction targets
Demonstrate energy reductions against the baseline, such as “Last year we used 60 MJ per unit of production which is a 25% annual reduction.”

The Higg Water section requires you to:

Track all water sources and report quantity used in the last calendar year
Identify which factors require the most water use on site (e.g., machines, processes, or operations that use the most water)
Set a normalized baseline for water use, such as “20 cubic meters per unit of production in 2016”
Set normalized targets for water reduction, such as “Reduce water used per unit of production by 70% in 2020”
Set an action plan with specific actions and strategies to achieve water reduction targets
Demonstrate water reductions against the baseline such as “Last year we used 15 cubic meters per unit of production which is a 25% annual reduction.”

The Higg Waste section requires you to:

Track all hazardous and non-hazardous waste streams
Report the volume generated and disposal method for all waste streams
Segregate, properly store, and train workers to handle all hazardous and non-hazardous waste streams
Forbid open burning and dumping of waste on-site and properly control any onsite incineration
Set normalized baselines for waste generated (e.g., generated 20 kgs of domestic waste per production unit in 2016) and disposal methods (e.g., landfilled 80% of domestic waste in 2016)
Set normalized targets for waste reductions and improvements to disposal methods
Set an action plan with specific actions and strategies to achieve waste reduction targets
Demonstrate waste reductions against the baseline such as “Last year we generated 16 kgs of domestic waste per unit of production which is a 20% annual reduction since 2016.”
Leading practice: Divert at least 90 percent of all discarded materials from landfills, incinerators and the environment
Leading practice: Upcycle waste by transforming waste materials into new materials or products of better quality or for better environmental value.

The Higg Wastewater section requires you to:

Track quantity of wastewater generated from industrial and/or domestic operations (not applicable for factories with only domestic wastewater)
Report all wastewater quality parameters that were found to not meet permits or industry standard(s), such as the ZDHC Wastewater Guideline, in the most recent quality test
Report name and quality results from the offsite wastewater treatment plant (if applicable)
Describe backup process if regular treatment fails (if applicable)
Ensure proper sludge disposal (if applicable)
Report whether your site reuses and/or recycles process wastewater as process water (if applicable)

The Higg Air Emissions section requires you to:

Track quantity of emissions from facility operations and refrigeration
If you use refrigerants on-site you will be asked to specify which refrigerants are used. These refrigerants will factor into your GHG emission calculations.
Track quantity of emissions from production processes
List control devices / abatement processes and monitoring frequency for operating and refrigeration emissions.
List control devices / abatement processes and monitoring frequency for production emissions.
Specify achievements of advanced performance in Nitrogen Oxides (NOx), Sulfur Oxides (SOx) and Particulate Matter (PM)
Specify whether your facility has a process for modernizing equipment to improve air emissions.