Skip to main content

​
Introduction

The Higg Materials Sustainability Index (MSI) is a material scoring tool that measures the environmental impacts of material production from raw material to the finished processing of the material. The Higg MSI API can be used by companies to integrate Higg MSI data within their own internal systems. It can also be used by third-parties, such as Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems, to enable shared customers to access Higg MSI account data in the third-party system. Integrating Higg MSI impacts into internal and third-party systems allows designers and sustainability stakeholders to compare material impacts as they make material choices and analyze impacts in their material portfolio. The MSI API consists of three primary endpoints:
  • Search : You can use the MSI Search endpoint to access Higg MSI API endpoints for all MSI module data that your account owns or that has been shared with your account. The Search API includes the Higg MSI normalized scores and Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) absolute values for the full material (but not for sub-process stages of material formation).
  • Create: The MSI Create endpoint allows the user to send material name and raw material stage from the third-party system to MSI to automatically create MSI materials.
  • Update: If you want to edit a material, you can use the Update endpoint to edit the material in MSI.
These endpoints work together to give the user a seamless way to automate creating materials in MSI and pulling the environmental impacts of the material back up into the third-party system creating a truly scalable sustainability solution. Impacts include both Higg MSI normalized scores and Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) absolute values and percentages. The following impacts are included in the Higg MSI API for all full example materials, custom materials, acquired materials, sample trims and components, custom trims and components, sample packaging, and custom packaging:
  • Global Warming MSI Score
  • Global Warming LCIA value (kg CO2 eq)
  • Eutrophication MSI Score
  • Eutrophication LCIA value (kg PO4– eq)
  • Water Scarcity MSI Score
  • Water Scarcity LCIA value (m3)
  • Abiotic Resource Depletion, Fossil Fuels MSI Score
  • Abiotic Resource Depletion, Fossil Fuels LCIA value (MJ eq)
  • Chemistry MSI Score
  • Chemistry LCIA value (units)
  • Biogenic Carbon Content LCIA value (kg CO2 eq) (Not included in MSI score)
  • Water Consumption LCIA value (liters) (Not included in MSI score)
For each sub-process within a material, optionally you can also return the following impacts:
  • Global Warming MSI Score
  • Global Warming LCIA value percent
  • Eutrophication MSI Score
  • Eutrophication LCIA value percent
  • Water Scarcity MSI Score
  • Water Scarcity LCIA value percent
  • Abiotic Resource Depletion, Fossil Fuels MSI Score
  • Abiotic Resource Depletion, Fossil Fuels LCIA value percent
  • Chemistry MSI Score
  • Chemistry LCIA value percent
  • Biogenic Carbon Content LCIA value percent (Not included in MSI score)
  • Water Consumption LCIA value percent (Not included in MSI score)
Each material in Higg MSI is normalized to 1kg. For example, if a material is 30kg, the Higg MSI impacts can be multiplied by 30 to determine the impact for the completed material. Trims and Components and Packaging impacts are per unit. While Higg MSI tool provides material impacts, it does not provide a means of calculating product impacts. It is not accurate to sum the impacts for the materials in the product to get a product impact score. Instead, product impacts are calculated using the Higg Product Module tool. Please see the PM API to learn how to automatically send your MSI materials to Product Module to create products and return their impacts.

​
Example Use Case

Users begin the workflow in their PLM where they create materials and products. Using the API, the PLM sends the raw material stage (example organic cotton) to MSI to create the PLM material automatically in MSI. The material Higg ID and material impacts are returned back to the PLM as part of the response when the material is created. The user can further customize the material within MSI if they choose. The PLM can search for changes made by users directly in MSI and pull those updated impacts into the PLM. The PLM can also push changes to the material made in the PLM to MSI, and retrieving the updated impacts in the response.