The 2014 edition of the State of Sustainability Initiatives (SSI) Review shows that the supply of products that comply with sustainability standards has grown rapidly since 2012, while increasingly penetrating mainstream markets.
At the same time, sustainability standard-compliant production is increasingly concentrated in more developed countries, and the depth of criteria used by newer standards is declining.
1 February 2014: The 2014 edition of the State of Sustainability Initiatives (SSI) Review shows that the supply of products that comply with sustainability standards has grown rapidly since 2012, while increasingly penetrating mainstream markets. At the same time, sustainability standard-compliant production is increasingly concentrated in more developed countries, and the depth of criteria used by newer standards is declining.
Published under the auspices of the Sustainable Commodities Initiative (SCI), a joint initiative managed by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the SSI review identifies trends in sustainability standards across the most relevant commodity sectors.
SSI 2014 finds that, on average, standard-compliant production has grown by 41% across all sectors, while significantly increasing market penetration. Sustainability standards are also improving participation in supply chain decision-making and are making better use of independent monitoring and enforcement to improve reliability.
On the other hand, oversupply of standard-compliant production is increasing, which may lead to an erosion in price premiums in the long run. Furthermore, the review shows that newer standards aimed at mainstream market penetration use fewer and less stringent criteria.
The review concludes that sustainability standards can make an important contribution to the green economy, while noting that standards alone cannot be assumed to achieve sustainable development outcomes. Additional policies and non-market frameworks are required to create a level and transparent playing field in the standards sector.
The SSI review is a collaborative initiative of IISD, the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), the Finance Alliance for Sustainable Trade (FAST), Environment and Trade in a World of Interdependence (ENTWINED) and the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH).[Publication: The State of Sustainability Initiatives Review 2014: Standards and the Green Economy] [SCI Website]