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The role and range of voluntary standards and certification systems governing sustainable agricultural practices

Code: 9781835452974
Publication date: 18/11/2024
Extent: 31 pages

Contributions by: Mathieu Lamolle and Gregory Sampson, International Trade Centre (ITC), Switzerland

Chapter synopsis:

This chapter charts the development and progressive broadening of sustainability as a concept, focusing on the particular role of voluntary sustainability standards set up by individual companies as well as sectors such as coffee and palm oil. It discusses the challenges of coordinating the multitude of different initiatives to ensure interoperability or compatibility between national, multilateral, regional and private industry sustainability standards and programmes, as well as to compare and monitor performance. The chapter reviews the International Trade Centre (ITC) Standards Map which provides a publicly-available inventory covering over 300 sustainability initiatives, applicable to more than 80 sectors and 190 countries. This makes it easier compare standards against more than 1,600 criteria, assess performance criteria and levels of compliance. The chapter also explains the ITC’s development of a comprehensive typology of sustainability standards to organize, cluster and analyse standards based on common features.



DOI: 10.19103/AS.2024.0133.03
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Table of contents
  • 1 Introduction
  • 2 The integration of sustainability into international discourse
  • 3 The rise of corporate social responsibility and voluntary sustainability standards
  • 4 Towards a sustainability deal across value chains
  • 5 Connecting the dots for sustainable international value chains
  • 6 Mapping sustainability standards: the International Trade Centre Standards Map
  • 7 New approaches: traceability and transparency through technology
  • 8 New approaches: reducing carbon footprints
  • 9 Sustainability standards and resilience: the case of the COVID-19 pandemic
  • 10 Financial markets: managing risk through sustainability standards
  • 11 Policymakers: developing due diligence frameworks
  • 12 Smallholder uptake of sustainability standards
  • 13 Consumer attitudes to sustainability standards
  • 14 Conclusion
  • 15 References

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