We are updating the background data source behind the bAwear Score LCA model, from Ecoinvent version 3.8 to version 3.12. The change takes effect on 21 September 2026, and from that date all scores on the platform are calculated on version 3.12. This note explains what that data source is, what is changing, and what it means for your results.
Migration date21 September 2026All scores calculated from this date use Ecoinvent v3.12
What is Ecoinvent?
Ecoinvent is the database of some of our background secondary environmental data, covering things like electricity grids, transport, and waste treatment, that feeds into every LCA based impact measurement on the bAwear Score platform. It sits alongside the primary data you provide us about your own materials, suppliers and factories.
Why are we updating it?
Ecoinvent publishes a new version roughly once a year, as global data on electricity grids, recycling routes and other background processes becomes more current. Version 3.12 (2025) reflects a more recent picture of the world than version 3.8 (2021), and carries five intermediate releases of changes with it (v3.9, v3.9.1, v3.10, v3.10.1 and v3.11). The intermediate releases were not earlier reflected on the bAwear tool since there were no significant changes for textiles.
What changes?
DatapointWhat changes & why it mattersIntroduced in
Electricity gridsGrid data moves from around 2018/2019 to 2022/2023. Supply chain steps that run on electricity are impacted. For most products, this is likely the single biggest driver of change, larger than any fibre specific update.Every release from v3.8 to v3.12
Cotton and polyesterOnly minor error corrections. No full rebuild of the underlying data. Increase in impact of synthetic fibers and some corrections on cotton.v3.12
Recycled polyesterNew pathway for chemically recycled waste polyester from industrial textile production in China, converting waste into PET pellets, plus a wider European plastics recycling network that routes polymer waste from downstream datasets to recycling. Relevant for products with recycled polyester content claims.v3.11, extended in v3.12
Biogenic carbonHow CO2 absorbed and released by plants is counted was rebalanced. Affects natural fibres: cotton, flax, hemp, jute.v3.11
TransportRail, road and sea shipping datasets corrected. Affects any product crossing several countries before reaching a finished garment.v3.12
Calculation methodReCiPe 2016 Midpoint (Hierarchist) is unchanged as a method. Ecoinvent refreshed its impact assessment library at v3.9 (IPCC 2021, EF 3.1, ReCiPe 2016, TRACI 2.1, EPS 2020, plus the new Crustal Scarcity Indicator); v3.12 adds only minor fixes to IPCC and EF and a unit correction in USEtox. The method you already know stays the same. Small characterisation factor changes between versions can still move absolute scores even where the underlying textile dataset is untouched.v3.9 refresh, minor fixes in v3.12
A closer look: Electricity mixes
Spinning, weaving, knitting, dyeing, finishing and manufacturing all run on grid electricity. Ecoinvent refreshes these market mixes almost every release, independently of whether the textile sector itself was touched. Between v3.8 and v3.12 the country energy mixes moved forward by roughly four to five years, and from v3.11 onwards the underlying global statistics come from Enerdata rather than the IEA, with Eurostat used for Europe.
Geographyv3.8v3.12
Global default20182022
China20182023
India2018Apr 2022 to Mar 2023
Brazil, Canada, USA, Switzerland2018 to 20192023
•China’s grid reference year moves from 2018 to 2023. Over that period wind and solar grew from 3.9 per cent of Chinese generation in 2015 to 15.6 per cent in 2023, with China accounting for 37 per cent of all wind and solar generated globally that year. According to Ember’s figures the carbon intensity of Chinese electricity fell from 783 gCO2 per kWh in 2000 to 581 gCO2 per kWh in 2023. The grid used in v3.12 is therefore measurably less carbon intensive per kWh than the v3.8 one, even though it remains coal dominated and well above the global average.
•India is relevant wherever spinning, fabric production, manufacturing or wet processing sits there. Its reference year moves forward by five financial years and the mix, while still coal heavy, has been decarbonising through solar growth.
What this means for your reported figures
•Expect slight changes in your results.
•Scores you already hold stay valid. A bAwear calculation is valid for two years from the date it was issued, so results produced on version 3.8 remain usable for their full validity period and do not need to be recalculated on 21 September 2026. New and recalculated scores from that date onwards run on version 3.12; If needed, you can rerun your bulk-uploads after September 21 to get the updated scores for your products.
•The calculation method itself, ReCiPe 2016 Midpoint (Hierarchist), does not change. Only the background data it draws from is updated.
•As with any bAwear Score, results remain based on the impact categories we report on: global warming potential, fossil energy use, water use and land use, and are indicative screening figures, not a certified or third party verified footprint.
Questions?
If you would like to talk through what this means for a specific product in your portfolio, please reach us at support@bawear.eu.
