Abstract
Value chains are a vital part of how our world operates, yet we are only beginning to understand how to make them sustainable. When the World Commission on Environment and Development published Our Common Future in 1987 (also known as the Brundtland Report; see WCED 1987) it represented a turning point for the understanding of sustainability and sustainable development. The fundamental importance of the topic—and the importance of the private sector in achieving it—has since been increasingly signalled by thousands of scientists and policymakers including leading thinkers such as the Nobel Laureate economist Nicholas Stern (2007) who addressed the urgency of taking action to reduce climate change whose cost to all of us has been estimated as equivalent to losing at least 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) globally.
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Notes
- 1.
This definition goes beyond the traditional understanding of government providing most or all of the governance and notes “the sum of the many ways individuals and institutions, public and private, manage their common affairs (…) involving NGOs, citizens’ movements, multinational corporations, and the global capital market” (Commission on Global Governance 1995, pp. 2–3).
- 2.
Personal conversation between Daniele Giovannucci and Starbucks CEO Orin Smith.
- 3.
August 2019 Ecolabel Index lists 463 ecolabels in 199 countries, and 25 industry sectors.
- 4.
Standards propagated by leading public ecolabels such as the Rainforest Alliance, GoodWeave, or Forest Stewardship Council increasingly integrate outcomes such as defined protected areas or worker housing requirements. Yet, as is true for food safety standards, it is increasingly necessary to distinguish results or actual outcomes, e.g. “% presence of bacteria” from the many processes to limit bacteria.
- 5.
Measuring impact is a science and difficult to do with the resources available to most sustainability-oriented standards. Outcomes are somewhat more accessible but are still more challenging to measure than process or interventions or inputs. For a more complete discussion, see The COSA Measuring Sustainability Report: Coffee and Cocoa in 12 Countries (COSA 2013, pp. 29–31; available online at: https://thecosa.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/The-COSA-Measuring-Sustainability-Report.pdf, last accessed 31 January 2019).
- 6.
ISEAL has established sound guidelines for its member organisations that include some of the most prominent standards bodies.
- 7.
A number of harmonisation advances have been undertaken in recent years. Prominent examples include: FAO Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agriculture systems (SAFA for Smallholders) aligned FAO, COSA, Grameen, Soil&More; Shared Approach for Smallholder Performance Measurement aligned the Sustainable Food Lab, ISEAL, COSA, Rainforest Alliance, Wageningen, Nestlé, Root Capital, IDH, Mars, Ford Foundation; The InterAmerican Development Bank SAFE Platform aligns dozens of firms and institutions using common metrics and reporting into one knowledge base.
- 8.
With many methods available, experience is needed to select the appropriate tool or instrument. Evaluation is made difficult and can also be questionable in many cases when it must rely primarily on secondary data.
- 9.
Caution made public at the COSA Scientific Committee meetings in Stockholm.
- 10.
Citation found in Chap. 15 by Lamolle et al.
- 11.
The Ecolabel Index offers this definition: A sign or logo that is intended to indicate an environmentally preferable product, service or company, based on defined standards or criteria.
- 12.
While some platforms encourage a handful of civil society organizations to join or comment, this is rarely if ever sufficient to help ensure that a platform does indeed serve both private and public benefits in balance.
References
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Commission on Global Governance (1995) Our global neighbourhood: the report of the commission on global governance. Oxford University Press, New York
COSA – The Committee on Sustainability Assessment (2013) The COSA Measuring Sustainability Report: Coffee and Cocoa in 12 Countries. The Committee on Sustainability Assessment, Philadelphia. https://thecosa.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/The-COSA-Measuring-Sustainability-Report.pdf. Accessed 25 Oct 2019
Kaplinsky R, Morris M (2001) A handbook for value chain research. Report prepared for the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada. http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/fisheries/docs/Value_Chain_Handbool.pdf. Accessed 31 Jan 2019
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UN – United Nations (2015) Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 25 September 2015, A/RES/70/1
WCED – World Commission on Environment and Development (1987) Our common future. Oxford University Press, Oxford
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Giovannucci, D., Hansmann, B., Palekhov, D., Schmidt, M. (2019). The Editors Review of Evidence and Perspectives on Sustainable Global Value Chains. In: Schmidt, M., Giovannucci, D., Palekhov, D., Hansmann, B. (eds) Sustainable Global Value Chains. Natural Resource Management in Transition, vol 2. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14877-9_1
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