What are Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS)?
Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) are rules that producers, traders, manufacturers, retailers or service providers may be asked to follow so that the things they make, grow or do don’t hurt people and the environment.
These standards help keep workers healthy and safe, protect communities and land, and uphold human rights, as well as moderating the environmental impacts of production and consumption.
What is United Nations Forum on Sustainability Standards (UNFSS)?
We address the sustainable development value of Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) by pooling resources, synchronizing efforts, and ensuring policy coherence, coordination and collaboration among United Nations agencies.
The Forum is coordinated by a Steering Committee of five United Nations agencies:
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
The International Trade Centre (ITC)
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment)
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)
Flagship Report Highlight
UNFSS publishes a Flagship report biennially on trending topics that are important to the evolution of Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS). These reports are pivotal tools for all stakeholders from the public and private sectors to gain substantial information through a transparent network.
National Multi-Stakeholder Platforms
We’ve helped several emerging countries to develop multi-stakeholder platforms for Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS). These national initiatives, created and shared by stakeholders under each country’s designated coordinating body, reflect local priorities. They are organized and structured in a transparent, inclusive and demand-driven way.
INDIA
The India National Platform on Private Sustainability Standards has been initiated under the Secretarial oversight of Quality Council of India (QCI) to facilitate dialogue between core public and private stakeholders on how to maximize the sustainable development benefits and market access opportunities of private sustainability standards.
MEXICO
The Mexican Platform was launched in April 2018 as a result of the joint collaboration with the Mexican Government, the UNFSS and the German Institute for Development Managing Global Governance program.
BRAZIL
The Brazilian National Platform was launched in 2017 under the Brazilian National Institute of Metrology, Quality and Technology (INMETRO), aiming to be the central figure for discussions surrounding VSS and raise awareness of the stakeholder affected by VSS.
CHINA
The Chinese National Platform on Voluntary Sustainability Standards has been initiated under the auspices of the Standardization Administration of the People’s Republic of China (SAC), the China Association for Standardization (CAS), and the General Administration for Quality Standardization, Inspection and Quarantine of the People’s Republic of China (AQSIQ) to promote the development of VSS in China.
Our Current Projects
These are projects from our member agencies including FAO, ITC, UNCTAD, UN Environment and UNIDO.
FAO
ITC
UNCTAD
UN Environment
UNIDO
Our Member Agencies
