Toward SuSTainabiliTy: The roleS and limiTaTionS of ... - Resolve

PrefaceIn 2008, the David and Lucile Packard Foundationand the Walton Family Foundation were bothseeking to understand the impacts and efficacy oftheir support of the Marine Stewardship Council(MSC)—which certifies wild-caught fisheries—and related nongovernmental initiatives. Bothfoundations had made substantial investmentsin the MSC in an effort to move seafood marketstoward greater sustainability. Although itwas clear that MSC-certified seafood was gainingmarket share, the impact of that shift on marineecosystems and fishing communities remainedanecdotal.At the same time, Mars, Incorporated—one ofthe world’s largest food companies—was lookingfor ways to encourage environmentally andsocially sustainable production practices acrossits diverse, agriculture-based supply chain. InApril 2009, the company also announced its commitmentto purchase 100 percent of its cocoafrom sustainable sources by 2020. They believedthat certification—a means of providing assurancethat the cocoa they purchased complies withagreed-upon sustainability criteria—would be acritical tool for helping to achieve that goal andultimately to improve the lives of cocoa farmers.As representatives of these organizations, webegan to talk with each other and realize thatwe shared the belief that certification can anddoes play an important role in transformingmarkets. We also agreed—given the proliferationof certification systems and ecolabels and theapparent lack of any existing systematic review ofthe on-the-ground impacts of these systems—that important questions regarding standardsand certification could benefit from collaborativestudy. In particular, with the rising uptake ofcertification, we believed it essential to provideproducers, supply-chain actors, and the environmentalcommunity with a solid assessment ofwhat is known and not known about this meansof moving toward sustainable use.We thus joined forces in late 2008 and early 2009around a common interest in an independent,robust assessment of the state of knowledgeregarding voluntary standards and certificationsystems that promote product sustainability.Our organizations provided grant support forRESOLVE, a respected nonprofit mediation andfacilitation organization, to serve as Secretariatfor the assessment. We worked with RESOLVE torecruit a balanced Steering Committee composedof representatives from business, civil society,and academia. The Steering Committee commissionedanalyses of the literature by academicresearchers, in addition to drawing on their ownknowledge and deep experience with standardsand certification.We asked the Steering Committee to design anddirect the Assessment. The findings, conclusions,and recommendations of the resulting study arethose of the Committee. Committee membersToward Sustainability: The Roles and Limitations of Certification i