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Sustainability standards and certification

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The term “sustainability standards” refers to a voluntary, usually third party-assessed, norms and standards relating to environmental, social, ethical and food safety issues, adopted by companies to demonstrate the performance of their organizations or products in specific areas. There are perhaps up to 500 such standards and the pace of introduction has increased in the last decade. The trend started in the late 1980s and 90s with the introduction of Ecolabels and standards for Organic food and other products. In recent years, numerous standards have been established and adopted in the food industry in particular. Most of them refer to the triple bottom line of environmental quality, social equity, and economic prosperity.[1] The basic premise of sustainability standards is twofold. Firstly, they emerged in areas where national and global legislation was weak but where the consumer and NGO movements around the globe demanded action. For example, campaigns by Global Exchange[2] and other NGOs against the purchase of goods from “sweatshop” factories by the likes of Nike, Inc., Levi Strauss & Co. and other leading brands led to the emergence of social welfare standards like the SA8000 and others. Secondly, leading brands selling to both consumers and to the B2B supply chain may wish to demonstrate the environmental or organic merits of their products, which has led to the emergence of hundreds of ecolabels, 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.[3] An example of a B2B standard which has grown tremendously in the last few years is the Forest Stewardship Council’s standard (FSC) for forest products made from sustainably harvested trees. However, 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.

Attempts to address the problems caused by a multiplicity of certification initiatives led to the launch of The State of Sustainability Initiatives (SSI) project, facilitated by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) under the auspices of the Sustainable Commodity Initiative (SCI).

Origin of global standards

Most sustainability standards that are being adopted today were initiated by social movements in particular countries, such as Rainforest Alliance in the United States and Fairtrade in the Netherlands. Other standards were initiated by individual companies, such as Utz Certified (Ahold), Starbucks C.A.F.E. (Starbucks), and Nespresso AAA (Nespresso). Some standards were launched by coalitions of private firms, development agencies, NGOs, and other stakeholders. For example, the Common Code for the Coffee Community (4C) was initiated by an alliance of main coffee roasters, including Kraft Foods, Sara Lee and Nestle, assisted by the German Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development (GIZ). One important facilitator for the development of most global standards were series of local development projects involving NGOs, coffee roasters and producers in different developing countries. For example, the Fairtrade 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.[4]

Different sustainability standards

Numerous sustainability standards have been developed in recent years to address issues of environmental quality, social equity, and economic prosperity of 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.[5]

Fairtrade

The Fairtrade label was developed in the late 1980s by a Dutch development agency in collaboration with Mexican farmers. 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. 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, Fairtrade also adopted environmental objectives as part of their certification system.

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 so as 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.

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. 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.

trustea

The trustea code is designed to evaluate the social, economic, agronomic and environmental performance of Indian tea estates, smallholders and Bought Leaf Factories (BLFs).

It is expected that the compliance with the code not only improves competitiveness of the tea farms but also facilitates the tea farms in achieving compliance with national regulations and international sustainability standards in a step-wise approach. The applicable control points under eleven chapters are required to be adhered to within a four year period, resulting in full compliance in a step wise approach by end of year 4. The India tea code allows producers to show that they operate responsibly – producing quality tea according to strict social and environmental standards. The verification under the code provides manufacturers with the assurance of responsible production and provides opportunities to credibly demonstrate this to their customers.

Other examples

Other types of standard include sector-specific schemes such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO); retailer-led sustainability certification initiatives such as GlobalGAP; Corporate own-brand sustainability initiatives such as Starbucks' CAFE Practices; and national programmes such as the Irish Food Board's ‘Origin Green’ scheme.[6]

United Nations Forum on Sustainability Standards ( UNFSS)

It is a joint initiative of FAO, UNEP, ITC,UNCTAD and UNIDO on Sustainability Standards.<http://unfss.org/documentation/general-documentation/>

See also

References

  1. ^ Overview article on sustainability standards in the food industry
  2. ^ Exchange Campaign - Nike
  3. ^ Fairtrade Growth
  4. ^ Article on the Development of the Common Code for the Coffee Community
  5. ^ Introduction to different standards
  6. ^ Agritrade: Implications of sustainability certification schemes for the ACP 16 November 2013


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