New report shows Cascale’s Higg FEM verification program delivers credible environmental performance data to inform decision making across global consumer goods supply chains.
AMSTERDAM and HONG KONG and OAKLAND, Calif., April 23, 2026 /3BL/ - Cascale today released its Higg FEM Verification 2025 Annual Report, demonstrating progress in delivering consistent, comparable, and credible environmental performance data to help inform decision making across global consumer goods supply chains.
2025 Higg FEM Verification, At A Glance
- 13,500 completed verifications
- 70+ countries
- 500+ approved verifiers
- 70+ approved Verifier Bodies
The Higg Facility Environmental Module (Higg FEM) is a core component of the Higg Index, which is stewarded and governed by Cascale and accessible through Worldly, the sustainability and supply chain intelligence platform. Verification is a critical component of the Higg FEM system. It improves the accuracy of assessments, reduces variability in how assessments are applied, and enables more consistent interpretation of results across facilities and regions.
As adoption of Higg FEM continues to scale across the consumer goods industry, data verification is increasingly important to help brands and manufacturers make more informed decisions. Cascale continues to evaluate and evolve the verification program to ensure it delivers value, supports increasing expectations on data quality, and enables more reliable performance tracking. In 2025, Cascale prioritized stabilizing operations, strengthening quality assurance systems, and reinforcing integrity mechanisms following the rollout of Higg FEM 4.0.
“Verification is fundamental to ensuring sustainability data can be trusted and used to drive meaningful decisions,” said Dhawall Mane, director of verification, training & insights at Cascale. “In 2025, we focused on strengthening the systems, processes, and oversight that underpin the Higg FEM verification program. These improvements deliver more consistent, reliable data at scale, supporting greater transparency and accountability across global supply chains.”
The report details significant advancements supported by enhanced quality assurance controls, introduced on the Worldly platform in 2025, which strengthened both error prevention and real-time issue detection. Strengthened monitoring infrastructure, paired with greater stakeholder engagement through integrity reporting channels, supported the timely identification and resolution of issues throughout the year. Protecting the credibility of the verification system remains a foundational priority.
Driving Continuous Improvement
Operational enhancements in 2025 included clearer verification requirements, expanded calibration support, improved data correction processes, and strengthened categorization standards. Together, these efforts are helping reduce variability and improve consistency across verification outcomes.
Cascale also advanced several initiatives to ensure evolution of the verification program remains fit for purpose, including introducing a multi-phase initiative to better align verification timing with how data is generated and used, as well as pausing expansion of verification of Level 2 and 3 questions in order to ensure the quality and practicality of the program by focusing on Level 1 questions. As the verification program continues to scale, Cascale remains committed to strengthening governance, enhancing transparency, and supporting stakeholders across the value chain.
Cascale members are invited to learn more and dive deeper into key report insights by registering for an exclusive member-only webinar on May 6.
Media Contact: Forster Communications, [email protected]
ABOUT CASCALE
Cascale is the global nonprofit alliance empowering collaboration to combat climate change and support decent work in the consumer goods industry. Formerly known as the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, Cascale stewards and governs the Higg Index frameworks, modules, and methodologies, while Worldly delivers the technology platform through which they are implemented globally. Cascale also recently acquired the Better Buying and Sustainable Furnishings Council tools. Cascale unites over 300 retailers, brands, manufacturers, governments, academics, and NGO/nonprofit affiliates around the globe through one singular vision: To catalyze impact at scale and give back more than we take to the planet and its people.
