Aid by Trade Foundation Presents Annual Report for 2025

Despite global supply chain challenges, the Aid by Trade Foundation (AbTF) was able to further expand its international role in promoting sustainably verified natural fibres in 2025.

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Siegelklarheit Awards Top Grade “Excellent” to Cotton made in Africa® (CmiA)

Cotton made in Africa® (CmiA) has been awarded the top grade “Excellent” by the German sustainability label assessment platform “Siegelklarheit” of Verbraucherzentrale NRW (Consumer Association of North Rhine-Westphalia). This rating recognizes CmiA for its performance in credibility, environmental, and social standards, positioning the standard among the best seals available on the market. The grading was carried out by the platform, co-initiated by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), based on a professionally reviewed evaluation system.

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Cotton made in Africa Partners Receive Top Marks in Independent Verifications

Cotton made in Africa® (CmiA) and CmiA Organic are two internationally recognised standards that aim to promote sustainable development in the African cotton sector south of the Sahara. To ensure the standards’ credibility among brands, retailers, and consumers, independent verifiers evaluate compliance on the ground. The verification results for 2025, now published in the Aggregated Verification & Implementation Report, were very strong: The verifiers awarded consistently very good remarks regarding management, people, prosperity, and the environment.

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Biodiversity Project in Tanzania: On Earth Day 2026, AbTF Delivers Positive Interim Report

To strengthen the protection of nature and of biodiversity in sensitive ecosystems, the Aid by Trade Foundation (AbTF)—through its AbTF Biodiversity Fund, established in 2025—is supporting a project by African People & Wildlife (APW). APW is internationally renowned for its community-driven nature conservation projects.

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Cotton made in Africa

Cotton made in Africa (CmiA) is an internationally recognised standard for sustainable cotton from Africa. Since 2005, CmiA has been committed to protecting the environment while improving working and living conditions for smallholder farmers and ginnery workers.

Aid by Trade Foundation

Aid by Trade Foundation (AbTF) is a Hamburg-based foundation established by Prof. Dr. Michael Otto. It administers the Cotton made in Africa standard with the goal of protecting valuable resources, improving living conditions, and ensuring the viability of future generations through sustainable action…

Sustainability Standards

The CmiA standards include sustainability criteria for cotton, with independent verifiers regularly monitoring for compliance.

Impacts

CmiA in figures for the year 2025

522,000

total CmiA cotton harvest (ginned, in t)

smallholder farmers

CmiA trading partners

total CmiA cotton harvest (ginned, in t)

smallholder farmers

CmiA trading partners

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CmiA Community Cooperation programme

With the CmiA Community Cooperation Programme, the initiative is working together with local cotton companies and textile companies to improve living conditions beyond sustainable cotton cultivation in the areas of health, education, women’s empowerment, environment and nature conservation.

Training

Training for smallholders is at the heart of Cotton made in Africa’s work and includes both agricultural and business management training.

African Cotton

Cotton is one of the most important raw materials for textiles. The African continent is one of the world’s largest producers.

Project Regions

Africa is a huge continent – larger than the USA, China, India, Japan, and Europe put together. CmiA is active in many countries on the continent, from Benin to Tanzania.

Projects

Health

2.1 billion people around the world lack access to safe drinking water, while 4.4 billion people do not have access to adequate sanitation facilities. As a consequence, children …

Education

Many African countries south of the Sahara have a high rate of illiteracy. Purely practical considerations are often responsible for the lack of education: in many cases, the closest school is simply too far away…

Environment

Our image of Africa is that of a continent with unique scenery and exotic wildlife. The rich and varied flora and fauna are some of the …

Advancement of Women

The improvement of living conditions in sub-Saharan Africa is directly linked to the advancement of women. Women do a…

Make the Label Count Interview

The Aid by Trade Foundation (AbTF) has joined the Make the Label Count initiative which was created in response to the development of new EU regulations for product statements on sustainability.