I am not a PRO standard and certification schemes however I must say that the sustainability standards by themselves are very useful tools to understand the different practices that can be implemented to address specific issues/challenges: what is sustainable agriculture? what is a fair prices? what is a dialogue-based partnership? what is a decent living wage? etc.
As you could have seen in the sustainable world and in some of my articles, since September 2015 we are talking everywhere of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They are 17 and are pillars for the UN agenda for 2030.
I have been promoting these Goals to my clients, suggesting them to use these SDGs as pillars of their Sustainable Development policy and/or ethical sourcing policy. As business; we should select the ones that make more sense for our business and towards which we can actually/really participate in.
Going back to the Credible Sustainability Standards, WWF and ISEAL Alliance just released a report showing how Credible Sustainability Standards support businesses towards meetings their SDGs. Note, achieving the SDGs is a collective action as the report reminds.
What is of interest in this report are the highlights on what these sustainability standards cover as SDGs and good practices examples. As detailed in the report, the Sustainability Standards cover 10 of the 17 Goals.
Not every Sustainability Standards is perfect, the performance in the field of their respective implementation depends on the commitments’ level of the business.
Once again, I want to insist on the collective actions that need to take place to guarantee the SDGs achievements.
Sustainability and credible standards have become part of mainstream understanding of what it means to do good business. A growing number of CEOs recognize sustainability not as a “nice to have” but a cornerstone of business success – and this is reflected in the increasing uptake of credible sustainability standards. While ambitious sustainability goals and strategies at the individual company level remain vital, sector-wide transformation can only happen through the sort of collective action that credible standards encourage and enable. And it is transformation at this level that is required for businesses to make a real contribution towards the poverty free world set out in the SDGs.
Please read the full report here: where you can know more about the examples of good practices.