The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has invited proposals to develop a National Textile Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) Database for India under its InTex Programme, marking a significant step towards building a circular textile economy. The initiative is designed to improve access to reliable environmental data across the textile value chain, enabling more sustainable production, consumption and policy decisions.
The proposed database will serve as a comprehensive repository of lifecycle data, capturing environmental inputs such as energy, water and raw materials, as well as outputs including emissions and waste, across the entire lifecycle of textile products—from raw material extraction to disposal. By enabling a cradle-to-grave assessment of textile production, the platform is expected to help identify environmental hotspots, support sustainable product design, and strengthen compliance with emerging regulatory frameworks such as Extended Producer Responsibility and sustainable procurement norms.
The project forms a key component of UNEP’s InTex Programme, which was announced at Bharat Tex 2024 and is funded by the Government of Denmark. The programme spans multiple countries, including India, Indonesia, Kenya, South Africa and Tunisia, and is scheduled to run until September 2027. In India, the initiative aims to create an open-access, nationally relevant database aligned with international standards such as the Global LCA Data Access Network (GLAD), thereby integrating Indian textile data into global sustainability frameworks.
UNEP stated that the database would play a critical role in enabling evidence-based policymaking, supporting businesses—particularly small and medium enterprises—in sustainability reporting, and facilitating the transition to circular business models focused on reducing waste, reusing materials and improving product longevity. The platform will also incorporate both environmental and social data layers and adhere to UNEP’s technical guidelines for lifecycle assessment systems.
Eligible applicants must be not-for-profit organisations with a legal presence in India and demonstrated expertise in lifecycle assessment (LCA), sustainability and the textile sector. Selected entities may form multidisciplinary consortia, with private sector participation permitted within defined budget limits. The implementing partners will be responsible for end-to-end execution, including stakeholder engagement, data collection across textile value chains, dataset development and validation, and the design, deployment and long-term operation of the database.
The project will be rolled out in phases, beginning with stakeholder engagement and awareness-building, followed by large-scale data collection and database development, and culminating in public deployment and integration with global platforms. UNEP noted that capacity-building initiatives would also be undertaken to support industry adoption and effective utilisation of the database.
The initiative will be implemented in collaboration with key stakeholders, including the Government of India, the Centre for Responsible Business and the Centre for Environmental Education. UNEP indicated that proposals would be evaluated based on technical expertise, feasibility, stakeholder engagement strategies and alignment with programme objectives.
The organisation emphasised that the initiative is intended to drive systemic transformation within India’s textile sector by reducing environmental impact, enhancing global competitiveness and supporting data-driven regulatory frameworks. It added that the open-access nature of the database would ensure broad usability across industry, government and research institutions.
