Higg Index
The Higg Index is a suite of sustainability measurement tools developed by the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) for the apparel, footwear, and textile industries. It standardizes how brands, retailers, and manufacturers assess environmental and social performance across facilities, materials, and products.
The Higg Index comprises several modules, each targeting a different layer of the value chain.
The Higg Facility Environmental Module (Higg FEM) measures environmental performance at the manufacturing-site level — energy use, water consumption, wastewater, emissions, waste, and chemical management. Facilities complete an annual self-assessment that can be verified by a third party, producing a score that brands use to benchmark and improve supplier performance.
The Higg Materials Sustainability Index (Higg MSI) scores raw materials by their cradle-to-gate environmental impact across categories like global warming, water scarcity, eutrophication, and chemistry. Designers and sourcing teams use MSI data to compare materials and make lower-impact choices during product development.
Additional modules include the Higg Brand & Retail Module (BRM) for corporate-level environmental and social performance, and the Higg Product Module for product-level lifecycle assessments.
The data collected through Higg assessments overlaps heavily with carbon accounting inputs — facility energy, material composition, and manufacturing process data. Gravity supports Higg Index reporting by capturing this operational data in a single platform, so apparel and textile companies can feed both their carbon inventory and Higg assessments from the same source records.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Higg Index used for? +
The Higg Index helps apparel, footwear, and textile companies measure and benchmark environmental and social performance across facilities, materials, and products. Brands use it to evaluate supplier sustainability, compare material impacts, and track improvement over time.
What is the difference between Higg FEM and Higg MSI? +
Higg FEM measures environmental performance at the facility level — energy, water, emissions, waste, and chemicals. Higg MSI scores raw materials by their cradle-to-gate environmental impact. Together they cover both where products are made and what they are made from.
How does Gravity support Higg Index reporting? +
Gravity captures facility energy, water, waste, and material data in a single platform. This operational data feeds both carbon accounting and Higg assessments, so apparel and textile companies avoid duplicating data collection across sustainability programs.
Related terms
Product Carbon Footprint (PCF)
A product carbon footprint (PCF) quantifies the total greenhouse gas emissions associated with a product throughout its lifecycle — from raw material extraction (cradle) through manufacturing, distribution, use, and end-of-life disposal (grave). It is expressed in units of CO₂e per functional unit of the product.
Lifecycle Assessment (LCA)
A lifecycle assessment (LCA) is a systematic analysis of the environmental impacts of a product, process, or service across its entire lifecycle — from raw material extraction through production, use, and end-of-life. Governed by ISO 14040/14044, LCAs evaluate multiple impact categories including climate change, acidification, eutrophication, and resource depletion.
Scope 3 Emissions
Scope 3 emissions are all indirect greenhouse gas emissions that occur in an organization's value chain — both upstream (suppliers, purchased goods, business travel, employee commuting) and downstream (product use, end-of-life treatment, investments). Scope 3 typically represents 70–90% of a company's total carbon footprint.
Supply Chain Emissions
Supply chain emissions are the greenhouse gases produced throughout an organization's upstream and downstream value chain — from raw material extraction and manufacturing through distribution, product use, and end-of-life disposal. In GHG Protocol terms, these are Scope 3 emissions, and they typically represent the majority of a company's total footprint.