To demonstrate improvements or reductions in environmental impact, it’s important to know what your starting point is. A “baseline” is a starting point or benchmark that you can use to compare yourself against over time. For example, if your factory used 80 m3 of water per 10,000 fabric meters in 2016, you will be able to compare your performance against this amount in years to come. In this example, “80 m3 of water per 10,000 fabric meters in 2016” is an example of a normalized baseline.
Data validation is a critical first step. The data needs to be stable and reliable before setting the baseline.
What is required:
Using stable data: if your factory has undergone major structural changes such as acquisition or changes in product type, you should select a baseline after those changes have been completed.
Normalization: if you select a normalized baseline, it will be normalized against the production units entered into the Site Information section for annual production. For example, if you selected annual production in “meters”, your baseline will be normalized against meters.
Verified data: baseline data should be accurate and verifiable. Verified energy data from Higg FEM is an acceptable source of baseline data. Baseline data verified by the internal audit process is also acceptable.
The baseline year and the baseline performance level (e.g. annual energy use, emissions per unit, etc.), should remain unchanged if you plan to set targets for improving your performance.
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