Global Compact International Yearbook 2015

Agenda
Voluntary Sustainability Standards
“‘Private’ highlights the
nongovernmental nature of
these systems. It does not
mean that they are businessdriven
initiatives; often
private voluntary standards
are developed and managed
by multistakeholder groups
or even groups dominated by
nongovernmental
”
organizations.
Kristin Komives and Amy Jackson, ISEAL Initiative
sure buyers that their purchases are supporting sustainable
production. In response to this concern, many systems have
ramped-up efforts to evaluate their systems and collaborate
with independent researchers to conduct independent research
about their systems’ effectiveness and impacts. As described
earlier, they are also building monitoring systems to track key
performance indicators over time. Public access to studies and
monitoring results is improving, as systems for standards are
increasingly make findings available on their websites.
A related concern is “greenwashing.” Some critics worry that
voluntary sustainability standards and/or their users are making
false or exaggerated claims. These false claims could simply
not be true (e.g., a claim that a process meets a standard when
it does not), or claims could be vague or difficult to verify (e.g.,
a claim that the product is “natural”). False or exaggerated
claims are seen with regard to all environmental and social
issues and are not isolated to voluntary sustainability standards.
In fact, the benefit of products, processes, or services
making a claim about performance against a standard is that
the claim can be independently verified, and the owner of
the standard can take steps to prevent false claims about use
of its system. Sustainability standard systems seek to address
the greenwashing concern with balanced multistakeholder
standard-setting and governance. The FSC, for example, is
governed by its members, who represent environmental
NGOs, the timber trade, community forest groups, and forest
certification organizations. Members are organized into three
chambers – social, environmental, and economic – and
each chamber is divided into North and South sub-chambers.
Voting rules ensure balanced input from respective North
and South chambers. Similarly, Fairtrade International has
a board with representatives of producer networks, labeling
initiatives, and certified traders.
Given these general concerns about sustainability standards
and the large number of new systems coming onto the market,
several actors in the standards landscape are developing
tools to help users identify the individual systems that best
meet their needs and address their primary sustainability
and credibility concerns. The International Trade Centre has
created a database (www.standardsmap.org) with detailed
information about many systems for sustainability standards,
and this database feeds tools for public procurement officers
and for producers looking for standards that meet their needs.
Ecolabelindex.com covers more ecolabels, but with fewer data
fields. GoodGuide is a product-specific database, and Ekobai
provides a central database of companies certified to one of
the more than 400 different sustainability standards. Industry
initiatives such as the Global Sustainable Compliance Program
and organizations interested in using standards to achieve
sustainability objectives are developing benchmarking tools to
enable users to compare the content and processes of different
standards against each other and / or against a benchmark.
ISEAL
ISEAL is a nongovernmental organization whose mission
is to strengthen voluntary sustainability standards
for the benefit of people and the environment. Its membership
is open to all multistakeholder sustainability
standards and accreditation bodies that demonstrate
their ability to meet the ISEAL Codes of Good Practice
and accompanying requirements, and commit to learning
and improving. Through membership in ISEAL, systems
for standards show a commitment to supporting
a unified movement of sustainability standards. ISEAL
also has a non-member subscriber category to engage
with governments, researchers, consultants, privatesector
organizations, nonprofit organizations, and other
stakeholders with a demonstrable commitment to the
ISEAL objectives. Read more about the ISEAL Alliance
and its codes of good practice at www.isealalliance.org.
Global Compact International Yearbook 2015 151