The Brussels Development Briefing no. 44 on “Promoting responsible and sustainable sourcing through Fair Trade” took place on 22 June 2016 from 9:00 to 13:00, at the ACP Secretariat in Brussels, Belgium.
This Briefings was co-organised by CTA, the European Commission / DEVCO, the ACP Secretariat, CONCORD and the Fair Trade Advocacy Office.
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Brussels Briefing 44: Aynur Mammadova, IISD Associate, SSI Team Member - Sustainability of supply chains and fair schemes favorable to farmers
1. State of Sustainability Initiatives:
Sustainability of supply chains and fair
schemes
Promoting Responsible Value Chains
and Sustainable Sourcing Through
Fair Trade
22 June, 2016
Brussels
2. • The SSI is a partnership that was launched out of the joint IISD-UNCTAD Sustainable Commodity
Initiative (2003) which sought to mainstream sustainable commodity production and trade by
leveraging the different and growing number of voluntary sustainability standards on the market
and by promoting core fair trade principles.
• Launched in 2008 the SSI is a collaborative effort funded by the State Secretariat for Economic
Affairs (SECO) and led by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), the
International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and the Finance Alliance for
Sustainable Trade (FAST).
To facilitate efficient decision making for sustainability by providing timely, accurate and
pertinent information on the performance of voluntary sustainability initiatives on
international markets.
• A voluntary sustainability initiative, or VSI, is any non-obligatory initiative explicitly designed to
promote the objectives of sustainable development, including ecolabels, certification initiatives,
standards, CSR programs, business to business initiatives, roundtables and other collaborative or
multi-stakeholder initiatives.
Who we are
3. SSI Review
The SSI Review is an independent evidence-based report on the
characteristics, performance and market trends related to
sustainability initiatives.
4. Content
2. Sustainable market statistics and data
3. Social, Environmental & Economic criteria of VSS
4. Opportunities through Fairtrade certification
5. Overall challenges
6. Conclusion
8. Growth in sustainability market
Compliant production as percent of global production, 2008 & 2013/14
Source: SSI Review 2014
Development of VSS compliant area worldwide, 2008-2013 (Minimum)
Source: SSI Review 2014
9. Production vs. Sales
Sustainable markets: Standard-compliant production vs. standard-compliant sales for 2012
Source: SSI Review 2014
10. Single sector initiatives lead in production volume
Source: SSI Review 2014
Single vs. multisector standards
19. Smallholders
Additional exceptions for smallholder producers which further accommodates
for smallholders by extending the certificate period from three years to six
years for “small licensees”.
Opportunities
Concentration on developing countries
Fairtrade certification is only available for products sourced from developing
countries.
Contractual transparency
Fairtrade is the only initiative with criteria covering all aspects related to
contractual transparency between buyers and sellers.
Price premiums
Price premiums illustrate the second-lowest average coverage across all 16
voluntary sustainability initiatives, with only Fairtrade and UTZ covering this
index.
Governance
Fairtrade is a leader in enabling equitable governance among developing country
smallholders.
20. Challenges
Mainstream Markets
Voluntary initiatives, whether Fairtrade or not, cannot be expected to overcome
market imperfections—they can help the market in being more attentive to such
imperfections but ultimately it will take government intervention and support to do
so in a way which is in accordance with the objectives of sustainable development.
Building the market
Continuing need to build the market—and, especially allow for the existence of
premiums/compensation for the adoption of more stringent practice (preferential
tariffs/taxes and public procurement policies).
Facilitating access
Need to facilitate market access and inclusiveness (technical assistance to
unorganized smallholder organizations (SCAN) and facilitation of access to
finance for smallholders (FAST)).
Information transparency
Need to improve information transparency—info on markets (SSI) and impacts
(COSA).
21. Conclusion
The general trend towards market growth BUT market
concentration in more developed economies.
Fair Trade's focus on marginalized communities is entirely
pertinent and appropriate.
The problem is that Fairtrade doesn't meet the needs of the
entire market and therefore there is a need to help other
initiatives also reach more marginalized markets.
Fair trade has the right priorities, but offers a limited vehicle for
their implementation, policy makers need to be open to
exploring other opportunities for promoting the "principles of
fair trade" by leveraging other instruments as well.
22. Contact us
Thank you!
Any questions?
www.iisd.org/ssi
info@ssianalytics.org
Lead Researcher, Jason Potts:
jpotts@iisd.ca
Hinweis der Redaktion
One of the core principles motivating the SCI, was a recognition that, there were limits to what the market could do in this regard and therefore the need to gain a better understanding on why and where VSS’s were working to promote sustainable trade and where they needed to be complemented by public policy.
Founded in 1997, Fairtrade International is a member-based
initiative operating within the food and agriculture sector across
120 countries. The initiative coordinates Fairtrade labelling at the
international level. Fairtrade sets minimum pricing and premium
levels as part of its commitment to poverty reduction for developing
country producers.
The initiative operates business to consumer. A separate
certification company, FLO-CERT, inspects producers and traders to
ensure they comply with Fairtrade standards. Full re-assessment
for Fairtrade’s certificates is conducted every three years. Within
this three-year period, yearly surveillance audits and random field
checks are performed. All audits are conducted by third-party
auditors. The three supply chain traceability models of identity
preservation, segregation and mass balance models are applied to
all Fairtrade products to ensure accountability of compliance claims
in the marketplace. The initiative’s primary source of revenue is
from membership fees and grants.
The average annual growth rate of standard-compliant production across all sectors reviewed was a stunning 41%, significantly outpacing the annual average growth of 2% in the corresponding conventional commodity markets.
A definite lag between supply and demand exists across all of the sectors reviewed. In fact more than half of most standard-compliant product is NOT actually sold as standard compliant. The gap between demand and supply may lead to reduced incentives to make the transition to sustainable production over time.
Concentration in More Developed Economies
Production for sustainable markets is concentrated in more advanced, export-oriented economies raising concerns about the effect of sustainability requirements on market access for less developed producers.
Page 77
Overall, economic criteria display the lowest degree of coverage
across the three pillars of sustainability. Virtually all initiatives would
say that this is not a reflection of a lack of concern for the economic
sustainability of producers, but rather is due to a widely held belief
that economic sustainability is fundamentally founded on free
market interaction. For those holding this view, the absence of
economic criteria might be considered an indicator of an initiative’s
commitment to promoting long-term economic sustainability.
Fairtrade is the only initiative with criteria covering all aspects
related to contractual transparency between buyers and sellers.
Although RSPO reports high coverage, the remaining initiatives
have no criteria covered by the SSI’s “written contracts between
buyers and sellers” index.
• Price premiums illustrate the second-lowest average
coverage across all 16 voluntary sustainability initiatives,
with only Fairtrade and UTZ covering this index, although the
requirements specified vary considerably. The minimum pricing
specified by Fairtrade is based on product type and location,
while UTZ allows for negotiation of the final premium between
buyer and seller. Although not considered a premium per se,
CmiA presents the producer with the potential of eventually
receiving a dividend, but only after a certain level of sales has
been achieved (International Finance Corporation, 2013).
Page 77
Overall, economic criteria display the lowest degree of coverage
across the three pillars of sustainability. Virtually all initiatives would
say that this is not a reflection of a lack of concern for the economic
sustainability of producers, but rather is due to a widely held belief
that economic sustainability is fundamentally founded on free
market interaction. For those holding this view, the absence of
economic criteria might be considered an indicator of an initiative’s
commitment to promoting long-term economic sustainability.
Fairtrade is the only initiative with criteria covering all aspects
related to contractual transparency between buyers and sellers.
Although RSPO reports high coverage, the remaining initiatives
have no criteria covered by the SSI’s “written contracts between
buyers and sellers” index.
• Price premiums illustrate the second-lowest average
coverage across all 16 voluntary sustainability initiatives,
with only Fairtrade and UTZ covering this index, although the
requirements specified vary considerably. The minimum pricing
specified by Fairtrade is based on product type and location,
while UTZ allows for negotiation of the final premium between
buyer and seller. Although not considered a premium per se,
CmiA presents the producer with the potential of eventually
receiving a dividend, but only after a certain level of sales has
been achieved (International Finance Corporation, 2013).
One of the core principles motivating the SCI, was a recognition that, there were limits to what the market could do in this regard and therefore the need to gain a better understanding on why and where VSS’s were working to promote sustainable trade and where they needed to be complemented by public policy.
Key areas for complementary intervention include:
Promoting better price transparency (by requiring price reporting along the supply chain—and establishing HST codes for certified products)
Supporting access to finance (by offering guarantees on certified loans to certified production
Offering targeted technical assistance to allow smaller producers to become organized and to implement sustainable practices so they can become certified (with any of a variety of credible VSS)
Public procurement requirements for certified production
Preferential tariffs and taxes for certified products