Scaling Up StrategyExecutive Summary

They have had a major impact on the ground while creating growing demand for sustainable products in the private sector and governments. With 10 per cent or more of global production certified in forestry, fisheries and key agricultural commodities, sustainability standards have the potential to transform global markets.

In order to achieve this, sustainability standards systems must scale up with unprecedented speed and efficiency and they must do that in a landscape that is rapidly changing.

ISEAL members came together to identify how, as mission-based organisations with common sustainability goals, they could use their collective strength to effect greater social, environmental and economic impacts. ISEAL and project partner AccountAbility undertook research to identify the key trends, opportunities and barriers to expanding the use of voluntary standards, which resulted in this Scaling Up Strategy.

The Strategy outlines a coordinated approach to expanding the implementation and acceptance of social and environmental standards on a global level in order to increase the number of producers and enterprises that benefit from sustainable practices and the demand for goods produced using credible standards.

This Strategy is designed as a living document to guide a process of ongoing planning and shared learning. It lays out the first steps of a collaborative effort that has already begun through the development of the Strategy.

Executive Summary

Over the past two decades, voluntary sustainability standards have established market approaches to address some of the world’s most pressing social and environmental problems

Key trends facing sustainability standards Economicpowerisgrowinginemergingeconomies

Influentialnewactors-governments,financeandinformation-aremovingintothestandardslandscape

Stakeholderswantstructuretobetterunderstandthestandardslandscape

Newcross-cuttingissuesareatthecentreofsustainabilitydebates

Demandoutstripssupplyinkeysectors

Effectivenessandefficiencyarepre-requisitesforgrowth

Supported by

Scaling Up StrategyThe Strategy consists of four interlocking goals.

Goal 1: Position credible standards systems as leaders in achieving sustainable development

This goal requires building support in emerging economies for standards systems as effective tools for sustainable development. During the first three years, the Strategy will focus on India, Brazil and China. Activities will build on the existing and emerging networks of ISEAL member systems and ISEAL strategic partners to raise awareness in the public and private sectors of the market opportunities and impacts of sustainability standards systems.

ISEAL and its national partners will provide technical and analytical background information, specialised training and a regular information service tailored to leaders in those emerging economies, facilitating their participation in global discussions on sustainability standards, building local ownership in the standards movement, and participating in national CSR forums.

ISEAL member organisations and strategic partners will also support the development of sustainable value chains in those countries, beginning with national flagship projects led by business, government and civil society leaders in partnership with standards systems. ISEAL will also research best practices for developing new standards models that can bridge national needs and international applicability.

Cooperation among ISEAL members will improve their standards systems’ response to critical cross-cutting sustainable development issues such as climate change, labour, or water scarcity. A Climate Change Engagement Framework has already been developed and will be implemented by ISEAL and its members to improve standards systems’ ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, strengthen the adaptive resilience of supply-chains and undertake credible monitoring, reporting and verification.

Goal 2: Leverage the support of key external actors for scaling up

Governments, financial institutions and global information systems have the capacity to leverage support for sustainability standards, yet the lack of

awareness and understanding about how standards systems operate creates a barrier to their engagement.

Through this goal, ISEAL will develop multi-stakeholder approved tools and training mechanisms that improve the ability of these targeted stakeholders groups to effectively engage with standards systems. These tools include a set of Credibility Principles, to help bring clarity to the desired characteristics of a standards system, a Taxonomy of Sustainability Claims, which classifies claims made by standards systems, and a Standards Systems Academy, which will provide training to a wide range of stakeholders in how to use standards systems to achieve their sustainability objectives.

The Strategy includes activities to increase government support for standards systems, primarily though the promotion of sustainable public procurement frameworks. ISEAL will first review existing sustainable public procurement systems and conduct interviews with government agencies about their related needs and challenges. Based on this research, ISEAL will facilitate the development of a sustainable public procurement template and toolbox, building on the Taxonomy of Sustainability Claims and Credibility Principles. The Standards Systems Academy will provide training and support for public procurement officials and ensure access to up-to-date information about sustainability standards and certified products.

ISEAL will coordinate a nascent network of leading global information systems that have the ability to provide information about credible sustainability standards to millions of consumers. A coordinated approach to sustainability information will ensure consistency in information about sustainability claims, provide common rules for what constitutes a credible information system, and create efficiencies for standards systems.

ISEAL will also work with partners to convince key financial institutions to integrate sustainability standards into their lending and investment strategies.

Goal 3: Increase producer and enterprise access to standards

Standards organisations need to find new ways for producers and enterprises to engage, and make standards and certification simpler and less costly to access and implement, so that more producers and enterprises benefit from sustainable practices. This

could include streamlining access, simplifying language or harmonising application and terminology across standards. Special attention needs to be paid to the needs of small scale producers and enterprises.

ISEAL intends to promote new models to facilitate the organisation and access of small scale producers to standards systems. One approach will be through producer groups that facilitate training and allow for the creation of the internal control systems required for group audits. ISEAL members will work together to study models of producer groups in different regions and sectors, and implement training and certification procedures to improve group access to standards systems. They will also examine ways to improve step programmes, which enable producers, or enterprises to adopt social and/or environmental improvements in a gradual way. Members will study the techniques, incentives and impacts of step programmes in order to improve them.

Since producers of crops such as coffee are often certified, or verified to multiple standards ISEAL members working will also hold strategic discussions and conduct field work to identify mechanisms for lowering the cost of multiple certification, including auditing compliance with multiple standards available simultaneously. ISEAL members will also look for ways to expand the training and assistance small producers need to access standards systems, and identify ways to work together to remove barriers producers and enterprises have in implementing sustainable practices.

Goal 4: Increase the effectiveness and efficiency of standards systems

Though most of the barriers to scaling up are external, ISEAL members are aware that going to scale will require alignment of some of their business processes, financial models and governance structure. Members are consequently collaborating to identify the common elements of a standards system business model and to understand how those elements fit together as a system goes to scale. They have identified key performance indicators that they will implement and refine over time based on shared learning.

ISEAL members are currently working with GIZ and PriceWaterhouseCoopers Germany to identify opportunities for streamlining processes and increasing operational efficiencies in their internal operations and service delivery.

To respond to supply chain demands for broad-based sustainability solutions, ISEAL members will examine how they promote sustainability as a group, starting by mapping how their systems fit together across key sustainability issues, sectors and geographies of production, followed by strategic discussions about their collective strengths and weaknesses and how to better use their collective resources. Members will then approach the construction of collective offerings, evaluating progress as they go.

ISEAL members also recognise the importance of demonstrating the impact and quality of their systems. Using the requirements of the ISEAL Impacts Code they plan to work toward a consistent set of indicators to measure those impacts, and define monitoring and evaluation frameworks to help them to measure and improve their sustainability impacts over time. Through implementation of the ISEAL Assurance Code they will take steps to ensure the quality of their certification and verification systems.

By working together, ISEAL members can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their operations while increasing the accessibility and acceptance of their standards systems by producers, industries, governments and consumers. This Strategy represents a first step in a collaborative process to scale up our impacts and ensure that credible standards systems play an increasingly important role in the expansion of sustainable development. It will help us use our collective strength to overcome challenges, seize opportunities, and effect greater social, environmental and economic improvements across the globe. To download the full Strategy visit www.isealalliance.org/scaling-up