Sustainability standards and certification

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Sustainability standards and certifications are voluntary guidelines used by producers, manufacturers, traders, retailers, and service providers to demonstrate their commitment to good environmental, social, ethical, and food safety practices. There are over 400 such standards across the world. [1]

Contents

The trend started in the late 1980s and 1990s with the introduction of Ecolabels and standards for organic food and other products. Most standards refer to the triple bottom line of environmental quality, social equity, and economic prosperity. [2] A standard is normally developed by a broad range of stakeholders and experts in a particular sector and includes a set of practices or criteria for how a crop should be sustainably grown or a resource should be ethically harvested.

This might cover, for instance, responsible fishing practices that do not endanger marine biodiversity or respect for human rights, and the payment of fair wages on a coffee or tea plantation. Normally sustainability standards are accompanied by a verification process – often referred to as "certification" – to evaluate that an enterprise complies with a standard, as well as a traceability process for certified products to be sold along the supply chain, often resulting in a consumer-facing label.

Certification programs also focus on capacity building and working with partners and other organizations to support smallholders or disadvantaged producers to make the social and environmental improvements needed to meet the standard.

The basic premise of sustainability standards is two-fold:

  1. Weak legislation and strong demand for action: Sustainability standards emerged in areas where weak national and global legislation existed but where the consumer and NGO movements around the globe demanded action. For example, campaigns by Global Exchange [3] and other NGOs against the purchase of goods from "sweatshop" factories by companies like Nike, Inc., Levi Strauss & Co., and other leading brands led to the emergence of social welfare standards like the SA8000 and others.
  2. Environmental Merits - Leading brands who sold to both consumers and to the B2B supply chain, and wished to demonstrate the environmental or organic merits of their products led to the emergence of hundreds of eco-labels, organic and other standards.

A leading example of a consumer standard is the Fairtrade movement, administered by FLO International and exhibiting huge sales growth around the world for ethically sourced produce. [4] An example of a B2B standard that has grown tremendously in the last few years is the Forest Stewardship Council’s standard (FSC) for forest products made from sustainably harvested trees.

The line between consumer and B2B sustainability standards is becoming blurred, with leading trade buyers increasingly demanding Fairtrade certification, for example, and consumers increasingly recognizing the FSC mark. In recent years[ when? ], the business-to-business focus of sustainability standards has risen as it has become clear that consumer demand alone cannot drive the transformation of major sectors and industries[ citation needed ]. In commodities such as palm oil, soy, farmed seafood, and sugar, certification initiatives are targeting the mainstream adoption of better practices and pre-competitive industry collaboration. Major brands and retailers are also starting to make commitments to certification in their whole supply chain or product offering, rather than a single product line or ingredient.[ citation needed ]

The number of Sustainability Standards has continued to grow; currently, there are around 264 active VSS (according to the International Trade Center Standards Map) in 194 countries and 15 sectors, [5] and about 457 ecolabels (according to Ecolabel Index) in 199 countries, and 25 industry sectors. [6] [7]

International and private standards supporting sustainability

Sustainability standards can be categorized as either voluntary consensus standards or private standards. International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is an example of an standards organization who develop international standards following a voluntary consensus process for sustainability under Technical Committee 207, Environmental management and Technical Committee 268, Sustainable cities and communities. [8] These Committees connect with Technical Committee 61, Plastics working on mandates such standards for eliminating plastic pollution. [9] In September 2023, ISO and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) signed a Statement of Intent, as a joint commitment to the role of International Standards in addressing sustainability. [10]

Many of the international standards developed to help guide sustainability goals and certification schemes originate from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). [11] The FAO has promulgated several standards for certifying bodies to adhere to. In particular, the FAO has issued guidelines and standards designed to make agriculture, fisheries, and forestry more sustainable.

Some of the sustainability standards were initiated by social movements in particular countries, such as Rainforest Alliance in the United States and Fairtrade certification in the Netherlands[ citation needed ]. Standards were initiated by individual companies, using private standards, such as Utz Certified (Ahold), C.A.F.E. Practices (Starbucks), and Nespresso AAA (Nespresso).

With the objective of standard harmonization, some standards were launched by coalitions of private firms (also referred to as multistakeholder governance, development agencies, NGOs, and other stakeholders, such as the Marine Stewardship Council, or MSC standard, developed as a collaboration between Unilever and the World Wildlife Fund. For example, the Common Code for the Coffee Community (4C) was initiated by an alliance of large American coffee roasters, including Kraft Foods, Sara Lee, and Nestle, assisted by the German Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development (GIZ).

One important facilitator of the development of most global standards was a series of local development projects involving NGOs, coffee roasters, and producers in different developing countries. For example, the Fairtrade private standard was developed based on pilot projects with Mexican farmers. 4C builds on development projects in Peru, Colombia, and Vietnam, involving GIZ, major coffee roasters, and local producers. [12]

The most widely established and adopted standards are in agriculture, with 40% of global coffee production certified to one of the main schemes, and approximately 15–20% of cocoa and tea production being compliant with major international standards. Forestry and wild seafood are also sectors in which standards have been influential, with certified production pushing past 10% of the global share. Cotton, palm oil, soy, biofuels and farmed seafood are some of the commodities in which certification is growing the fastest, due in part to major roundtables that have been set up to bring the whole industry together. More recently, standards have started to emerge for mining and the extraction of metals – including gold, silver, aluminium, and oil and gas – as well as for cattle, electronics, plastics and tourism.

Evidence suggests that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) adopted willingly by firms can be more effective than government-regulated CSR so global standards by private companies show promise for effective social impact. [13] Counter-arguments are discussed which express concerns around private sector, corporation-led, multistakeholder governance who adopt "weak or narrow standards" that "better serve corporate interests than rights holder interests" for self-regulation in the absence of government regulation. [14] [15] [16]

The creation of the ISEAL Alliance as a private organization in 2002 was the first collaborative effort amongst a group of sustainability standards organizations to agree to follow common good practices for harmonized standards implementation and also to work together to drive up the use of private standards and certification globally. In 2022, ISEAL reported 42% of their funding came from government grants. With generous support from organizations such as The Walmart Foundation, Fairtrade USA and Rainforest Alliance. [17]

Sustainability standards

Numerous sustainability standards have been developed to address issues of environmental quality, social equity, and economic prosperity in global production and trade practices. Despite similarities in major goals and certification procedures, there are some significant differences in terms of their historical development, target groups of adopters, geographical diffusion, and emphasis on environmental, social, or economic issues. [18]

One of the major differences is based on the level of strictness of the standard. Some standards set the bar high for a sector, promoting strong social and environmental practices and working with the top performers to constantly push up sustainability expectations[ citation needed ]. Other standards are more focused on eliminating the worst practices and operate at more of an entry level to get a large proportion of an industry working incrementally towards better practices. Often there are strategies between standards to move producers along this performance ladder of sustainability[ citation needed ]. Another important distinction is that some standards can be applied internationally (usually with mechanisms to ensure local relevance and appropriateness), in contrast other standards are developed entirely with a regional or national focus[ citation needed ].

Additional differences between standards might relate to the certification process and whether it is conducted by a first, second or third party; the traceability system in place and whether it allows for the segregation or mixing of certified and non-certified materials; and the types of sustainability claims that are made on products.

Fairtrade

The Fairtrade label was developed in the late 1980s by a Dutch development agency in collaboration with Mexican farmers[ citation needed ]. The initiative performs development work and promotes its political vision of an alternative economy, seeing its main objective in empowering small producers and providing these with access to and improving their position on global markets[ citation needed ].

The most distinguishing feature of the Fairtrade label is the guarantee of a minimum price and a social premium that goes to the cooperative and not to the producers directly. Recently[ citation needed ], Fairtrade also adopted environmental objectives as part of their certification system.

In 2020, Fairtrade International issued a position statement, [19] defending their use of private standards, in response to a report from The Institute for Multi-Stakeholder Initiative Integrity (MSI Integrity).

Rainforest Alliance

The Rainforest Alliance was created in the late 1980s from a social movement and is committed to conserving rainforests and their biodiversity. One key element of the standard is the compulsory elaboration and implementation of a detailed plan for the development of a sustainable farm management system to assist wildlife conservation.

Another objective is to improve workers’ welfare by establishing and securing sustainable livelihoods. Producer prices may carry a premium. Yet instead of guaranteeing a fixed floor price, the standard seeks to improve the economic situation of producers through higher yields and enhanced cost efficiency [ citation needed ].

UTZ Certified

UTZ Certified (formerly Utz Kapeh) was co-founded by the Dutch coffee roaster Ahold Coffee Company in 1997. It aims to create an open and transparent marketplace for socially and environmentally responsible agricultural products. Instruments include the UTZ Traceability System and the UTZ Code of Conduct.

The traceability system makes certified products traceable from producer to final buyer and has stringent chains of custody requirements. The UTZ Code of Conduct emphasizes both environmental practices (e.g. biodiversity conservation, waste handling, and water use) and social benefits (e.g. access to medical care, access to sanitary facilities at work).

Organic

The Organic standard was developed in the 1970s and is based on IFOAM Basic Standards. [20] IFOAM stands for International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements and is the leading global umbrella organization for the organic farming movement. The IFOAM Basic Standards provide a framework of minimum requirements, including the omission of agrochemicals such as pesticides and chemical-synthetic fertilizers. The use of animal feeds is also strictly regulated. Genetic engineering and the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are forbidden[ citation needed ].

Sustainable Tourism

With increasing awareness, The tourism industry has a variety of sustainability standards for different subsectors. This includes standards for sustainable hotels, sustainable tour operators, sustainable events and conferences, sustainable destinations, and so on.

LEED

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards were developed by the US Green Building Council in an effort to propel green building design in the United States. LEED certification can be attained through "compliance with all environmental laws and regulations, occupancy scenarios, building permanence and pre-rating completion, site boundaries and area-to-site ratios, and obligatory five-year sharing of whole building energy and water use data from the start of occupancy (for new construction) or date of certification (for existing buildings)". [21]

Other examples

Other types of standards include sector-specific schemes such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO); standards for climate and development interventions like the Gold Standard, retailer-led sustainability certification initiatives such as GlobalGAP; Corporate own-brand sustainability initiatives such as Starbucks' C.A.F.E. Practices; and national programs such as the Irish Food Board's 'Origin Green' scheme. [22]

The United Nations Forum on Sustainability Standards (UNFSS) is a joint initiative of FAO, UNEP, ITC, UNCTAD, and UNIDO on Sustainability Standards. [23] UNFSS is a neutral and credible platform to maximize the potential of Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) as a means to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through: [24] Facilitating emerging economies' access to lucrative markets, stimulating well-informed dialogue among key stakeholders at the national and international level, and building capacities for producers and SMEs, to enhance opportunities in international trade.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fair trade</span> Sustainable and equitable trade

Fair trade is a term for an arrangement designed to help producers in developing countries achieve sustainable and equitable trade relationships. The fair trade movement combines the payment of higher prices to exporters with improved social and environmental standards. The movement focuses in particular on commodities, or products that are typically exported from developing countries to developed countries but is also used in domestic markets, most notably for handicrafts, coffee, cocoa, wine, sugar, fruit, flowers and gold.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fairtrade International</span> Group promoting a living income for farmers

Fairtrade International, or Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International E.V. is a product-oriented multistakeholder group aimed at promoting the lives of farmers and workers through trade. Fairtrade's work is guided by a global strategy focused on ensuring that all farmers earn a living income, and agricultural workers earn a living wage. Fairtrade works with farmers and workers of more than 300 commodities. The main products promoted under the Fairtrade label are coffee, cocoa, banana, flowers, tea, and sugar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forest Stewardship Council</span> Global forest certification system

The Forest Stewardship Council GmbH (FSC) is an international non-profit, multistakeholder organization established in 1993 that promotes responsible management of the world's forests via timber certification. This organization uses a market-based approach to transnational environmental policy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ecolabel</span> Labeling systems for food and consumer products

Ecolabels and Green Stickers are labeling systems for food and consumer products. The use of ecolabels is voluntary, whereas green stickers are mandated by law; for example, in North America major appliances and automobiles use Energy Star. They are a form of sustainability measurement directed at consumers, intended to make it easy to take environmental concerns into account when shopping. Some labels quantify pollution or energy consumption by way of index scores or units of measurement, while others assert compliance with a set of practices or minimum requirements for sustainability or reduction of harm to the environment. Many ecolabels are focused on minimising the negative ecological impacts of primary production or resource extraction in a given sector or commodity through a set of good practices that are captured in a sustainability standard. Through a verification process, usually referred to as "certification", a farm, forest, fishery, or mine can show that it complies with a standard and earn the right to sell its products as certified through the supply chain, often resulting in a consumer-facing ecolabel.

The Global Ecolabelling Network (GEN) is a non-profit network composed of some 29 ecolabel organisations throughout the world representing nearly 60 countries and territories, with two associate members and a growing number of affiliate members, one of which is Google. GEN members have certified over 252,000 products and services for environmental leadership. GEN was established in 1994.

A sustainable business, or a green business, is an enterprise that has a minimal negative impact or potentially a positive effect on the global or local environment, community, society, or economy—a business that attempts to meet the triple bottom line. They cluster under different groupings and the whole is sometimes referred to as "green capitalism". Often, sustainable businesses have progressive environmental and human rights policies. In general, a business is described as green if it matches the following four criteria:

  1. It incorporates principles of sustainability into each of its business decisions.
  2. It supplies environmentally friendly products or services that replace demand for nongreen products and/or services.
  3. It is greener than traditional competition.
  4. It has made an enduring commitment to environmental principles in its business operations.
<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rainforest Alliance</span> International sustainable agriculture organization

The Rainforest Alliance is an international non-governmental organization (NGO) with staff in more than 20 countries and operations in more than 70 countries. It was founded in 1987 by Daniel Katz, an American environmental activist, who serves as the chair of the board of directors. The NGO states that its mission is "to create a more sustainable world by using social and market forces to protect nature and improve the lives of farmers and forest communities." Its work includes the provision of an environmental certification for sustainability in agriculture. In parallel to its certification program, the Rainforest Alliance develops and implements long-term conservation and community development programs in a number of critically important tropical landscapes where commodity production threatens ecosystem health and the well-being of rural communities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Fairtrade Certification Mark</span> Certification mark

The 'International Fairtrade Certification Mark is an independent certification mark used in over 69 countries. It appears on products as an independent guarantee that a product has been produced according to Fairtrade political standards.

The fair trade debate concerns the ethics and economic implications of fair trade, a term for an arrangement designed to help producers in developing countries achieve sustainable and equitable trade relationships. The benefits of fair trade for farmers and workers can vary considerably and the social transformation impacts also vary around the world. However the main concerns from critics is that fair trade may give an unfair advantage to some producers over others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UTZ Certified</span> Program for sustainable farming, now merged with the Rainforest Alliance

UTZ, formerly called UTZ Certified, is a program and a label for sustainable farming. The organization was founded as a non-profit in the Netherlands in 2002. The UTZ label is featured on more than 10,000 product packages in over 116 countries. In 2014, UTZ was reported to be the largest program for sustainable farming of coffee and cocoa in the world. The UTZ program addresses agricultural practices, social and living conditions, farm management, and the environment. In January 2018, UTZ officially merged with the Rainforest Alliance in response to the increasing challenges of deforestation, climate change, systemic poverty, and social inequity.

A technical standard is an established norm or requirement for a repeatable technical task which is applied to a common and repeated use of rules, conditions, guidelines or characteristics for products or related processes and production methods, and related management systems practices. A technical standard includes definition of terms; classification of components; delineation of procedures; specification of dimensions, materials, performance, designs, or operations; measurement of quality and quantity in describing materials, processes, products, systems, services, or practices; test methods and sampling procedures; or descriptions of fit and measurements of size or strength.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fair trade coffee</span> Coffee certified as produced to fair trade standards

Fair trade coffee is coffee that is certified as having been produced to fair trade standards by fair trade organizations, which create trading partnerships that are based on dialogue, transparency and respect, with the goal of achieving greater equity in international trade. These partnerships contribute to sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to coffee bean farmers. Fair trade organizations support producers and sustainable environmental farming practices and prohibit child labor or forced labor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fair trade certification</span> Product certification within the market-based movement fair trade

A fair trade certification is a product certification within the market-based movement of fair trade. The most widely used fair trade certification is FLO International's, the International Fairtrade Certification Mark, used in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Fair Trade Certified Mark is the North American equivalent of the International Fairtrade Certification Mark. As of January 2011, there were more than 1,000 companies certified by FLO International's certification and a further 1,000 or so certified by other ethical and fairtrade certification schemes around the world.

Sustainable coffee is a coffee that is grown and marketed for its sustainability. This includes coffee certified as organic, fair trade, and Rainforest Alliance. Coffee has a number of classifications used to determine the participation of growers in various combinations of social, environmental, and economic standards. Coffees fitting such categories and that are independently certified or verified by an accredited third party have been collectively termed "sustainable coffees". This term has entered the lexicon and this segment has quickly grown into a multibillion-dollar industry of its own with potentially significant implications for other commodities as demand and awareness expand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Committee on Sustainability Assessment</span>

The Committee on Sustainability Assessment (COSA) is a global consortium of development institutions that work collaboratively to advance sustainability learning with systematic and science-based measurement. COSA applies a pragmatic and collective approach for using scientific methods to develop indicators, tools, and technologies to measure the distinct social, environmental, and economic impacts and are applied in performance monitoring, evaluation, return on investment (ROI) calculation, and impact assessment. COSA has a public mission to open its scientific methods and metrics up to widespread use.

Sustainable products are products who are either sustainability sourced, manufactured or processed that provide environmental, social and economic benefits while protecting public health and environment over their whole life cycle, from the extraction of raw materials until the final disposal.

The Ethical Tea Partnership is a Private Limited Company that has been working with tea producers and tea companies to improve the sustainability of the tea industry since 1997. This industry-wide initiative, which was originally called the Tea Sourcing Partnership, was established by a number of large UK tea packing companies who decided to work together to improve the social conditions in their supply chains. Later on, ETP membership opened up to non UK-based tea packers, and extended the scheme to include environmental issues as well.

Environmental certification is a form of environmental regulation and development where a company can voluntarily choose to comply with predefined processes or objectives set forth by the certification service. Most certification services have a logo which can be applied to products certified under their standards. This is seen as a form of corporate social responsibility allowing companies to address their obligation to minimise the harmful impacts to the environment by voluntarily following a set of externally set and measured objectives.

Harmonization is the process of minimizing redundant or conflicting standards which may have evolved independently. The name is also an analogy to the process to harmonizing discordant music.

Globalization of supply chains and pressure to lower production costs have negatively impacted environments and communities around the world, especially in developing nations where production of high demand goods is increasingly taking place. Since the 1990s, awareness of these negative impacts has grown, leading stakeholders to push companies to take responsibility and actively work to improve the sustainability of their supply chains. It has come to be understood that a company is only as sustainable as the start of its supply chain, bringing about the need for sustainable sourcing. Sustainable sourcing refers to the inclusion of social, environmental, and economic criteria in the sourcing process.

References

  1. ↑ "Market Coverage". State of Sustainability Initiatives. Retrieved 2021-02-10.
  2. ↑ World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) (1987). "The Brundtland Report: Our Common Future" (PDF). Retrieved July 18, 2019.
  3. ↑ Global Exchange Campaign - Nike
  4. ↑ Fairtrade Growth Archived 2010-12-25 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ↑ "Sustainability Map". www.standardsmap.org. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  6. ↑ "Ecolabel Index | Who's deciding what's green?". www.ecolabelindex.com. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  7. ↑ "The Trade Impact of Voluntary Sustainability Standards: A review of empirical evidence" (PDF).
  8. ↑ "Developing sustainably". iso.org. International Organization for Standardization. Retrieved 20 February 2023.
  9. ↑ Birkbeck, Carolyn Deere; Sugathan, Mahesh; Boinnard, Sophie; Grekova, Valeriia; Cleeland, Belinda (September 2023). Standards and Related Initiatives in International Cooperation to End Plastic Pollution: Mapping and State of Play. Geneva, Switzerland: Forum on Trade, Environment, & the SDGs (TESS). pp.  https://tessforum.org/latest/standards-and-related-initiatives-in-international-cooperation-to-end-plastic-pollution-mapping-and-state-of-play.
  10. ↑ "ISO and UNDP announce partnership to enhance sustainability action". iso.org. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO). 20 September 2023. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  11. ↑ Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
  12. ↑ Article on the Development of the Common Code for the Coffee Community
  13. ↑ Armstrong, J. Scott; Green, Kesten C. (2013). "Effects of corporate social responsibility and irresponsibility policies" (PDF). Journal of Business Research. 66 (10): 1922–1927. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.663.508 . doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2013.02.014. S2CID   145059055.
  14. ↑ Not Fit-for-Purpose The Grand Experiment of Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives in Corporate Accountability, Human Rights and Global Governance. San Francisco: Institute for Multi-Stakeholder Initiative Integrity: MSI Integrity. July 2020.
  15. ↑ "Multistakeholderism: a critical look". tni.org. Transnational Institute. 21 February 2024.
  16. ↑ "Who's Tipping the Scales?". ipes-food.org. IPES-Food.
  17. ↑ "ISEAL Annual Report 2022". isealalliance.org. ISEAL Alliance. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  18. ↑ Introduction to different standards
  19. ↑ "Fit for purpose?". fairtrade.net. Fairtrade International. 2020. Archived from the original on 2021-05-11. Retrieved 2022-01-17.
  20. ↑ Luttikholt, L. W. M. (2007-01-01). "Principles of organic agriculture as formulated by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements". NJAS - Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences. 54 (4): 347–360. doi: 10.1016/S1573-5214(07)80008-X . ISSN   1573-5214. S2CID   62898220.
  21. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-12-05. Retrieved 2011-12-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link), additional text.
  22. ↑ Implications of sustainability certification schemes for the ACP. Agritrade (Report). 16 November 2013. Archived from the original on July 5, 2018.
  23. ↑ "United Nations Forum on Sustainability Standards". UNFSS. United Nations. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
  24. ↑ "About UNFSS". UNFSS. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
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