Clean Energy for Cotton Supply Chains

Challenge

• Fashion brands face increasing pressure to decarbonise supply chains and demonstrate social impact.

• Cotton farming communities in South Asia rely heavily on fossil fuels for energy, irrigation, and cooking.

• Brands needed a credible, scalable model to achieve carbon, livelihoods, and nature goals at farm level.

Our Approach

• Designed and piloted an insetting programme to integrate clean energy directly into cotton-growing villages.

• Technologies include:
  • Solar home systems
  • Solar-powered shops
  • Solar irrigation pumps
  • Clean cookstoves

• Developed a collaborative financing model involving brands, farming communities, and other funders.

• Focused initial deployment in Punjab, Pakistan, with potential to scale across South Asia.

Results to Date

• Year 4 of programme development, supported through the Energy Catalyst.

• Delivered proof-of-concept projects, building a pipeline of clean energy adoption in cotton villages.

• Building resilience of cotton value chains to climate and ecological risks.

• Preparing the business model for market readiness by 2026.

Client Impact

• Provides brands with a practical insetting solution to meet sustainability commitments.

• Delivers clean energy access and improved livelihoods in cotton-farming communities.

• Strengthens supply chain resilience while reducing emissions at source.

Takeaway:

ACE Villages shows how clean energy can be embedded within global supply chains, creating measurable carbon, social, and environmental benefits for both brands and farming communities.