
Meetings
Building a Sustainable Future for Trade: A Multi-Dimensional Assessment of VSS in Global Sustainability Governance and Due Diligence for developing countries.
Note: This meeting is by-invitation only, which will be held within the premises of the World Trade Forum (13-14 October 2023). Participation in this meeting does not guarantee a spot in the World Trade Forum. To register for the World Trade Forum, please visit: World Trade Forum | WTI.
The UNFSS Academic Advisory Council (AAC) annual meeting brings together an international mix of academic and policy experts from various disciplines and backgrounds to consolidate the knowledge on Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) and contribute to a comprehensive understanding of VSS effectiveness.
The UNFSS AAC meeting in 2023 will focus on exploring the synergies between due diligence and voluntary sustainability standards (VSS) within the context of global sustainability governance. Through a multi-dimensional assessment, the discussion will delve into the potential of these approaches in driving sustainable trade.
To achieve sustainable and inclusive growth, it is vital that sustainable business practices are adopted throughout GVCs. Companies are increasingly placing voluntary sustainability standards (VSS) at the centre of the sustainability approaches governing their GVCs. VSS prescribe a set of social, economic and/or environmental requirements that economic actors can voluntarily comply with in order to make their production and processing practices more sustainable. VSS have been proliferating over the past few decades and have emerged as important tools to address sustainability challenges such as biodiversity loss, climate change, pollution and human rights violations.
As regulatory initiatives are adopted, and due diligence becomes a top priority, discussions are now focused on the implementation of due diligence requirements. These discussions are raising concerns about the potential role of VSS in these developments and the impact these initiatives will have on developing countries.
These debates center around various aspects of VSS in global sustainability governance and raise numerous questions on the role of these instruments in advancing sustainable trade. The AAC meeting will address these concerns and assess the interplay of VSS and Due Diligence under the realm of global sustainability governance and consequent impacts on developing countries and sustainable trade at large.
This will be discussed through 3 sessions that include a mix of academics, practitioners, and policymakers to share scientific evidence and policy considerations on VSS as tools to promote sustainable development.
The UNFSS co-organized its second AAC meeting together with the Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), and the European University Institute (EUI), hosted at the Irish College in Leuven. The meeting was conducted in a hybrid format and some participants joined in-person and some joined virtually.
The meeting brought together an international mix of academic (members of the AAC), practitioners (members from the UNFSS National Platforms) and policy experts from various disciplines and backgrounds to consolidate the knowledge on VSS, and discuss the contributions of VSS to sustainable development, centered around the theme for discussion: “Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis of VSS”, structured around the internal and external dimensions of VSS, with a development related lens. This provided an avenue for cross fertilization of thoughts on the issue at hand. This year’s AAC meeting discussed the SWOT framework of VSS. On the internal dimension, the AAC meeting explored the strengths and weaknesses of VSS in advancing the sustainability agenda, especially in developing countries, with a specific focus on VSS institutional design, how they work, how they have evolved over time, and how they try to adopt to new challenges and circumstances. Further, on the external dimension, the AAC meeting explored the opportunities and threats that VSS face as a private governance tool that interacts with other regulatory initiatives. This is also imperative to be understood as there is an increasing interest in making value chains more sustainable, and from a regulatory perspective, there is an emergence of new regulatory tools, like the EU due diligence legislatives, which can have interactions with the VSS systems.
Download SWOT Publication on VSS.
Participants:
No | Name | Institution |
AAC | ||
1 | Mercedes Araoz Fernandez | Universidad del Pacifico |
2 | Axel Marx | KU Leuven |
3 | Santiago Fernandez de Cordoba | UNCTAD |
4 | Bernard Hoekman | EUI |
5 | Archna Negi | Jawarhalal Nehru University |
6 | Ariel Hernandez | German Institute of Development and Sustainability |
7 | Benjamin Cashore | National Univerit of Singapore |
8 | Clara Brandi | German Institute of Development and Sustainability |
9 | Elizabeth A. Bennett | Lewis & Clark College, Portland Oregon |
10 | Engela Schlemmer | University of Witwersrand |
12 | Eric Lambin | Stanford Woods Institute |
13 | Graeme Auld | Carleton University |
14 | Hamish van der Ven | University of British Columbia |
15 | Janina Grabs | ESADE Business School |
16 | Jan Orbie | Ghent University |
17 | Jorge Perez | Universidad Anahuac Mexico |
19 | Li Li | University of International Business and Economics |
20 | Lars Gulbrandsen | Fridjof Nansen Institute |
21 | Robert Heilmayr | University of California, Santa Barbara |
22 | Mercelo Olarreaga | University of Geneva |
23 | Miet Maertens | KU Leuven |
24 | Michida Etsuyo | Institute of Developing Economies |
25 | Rachael Garrett | ETH Zurich |
26 | Philip Schleifer | University of Amsterdam |
27 | Thomas Dietz | University of Muenster |
28 | Vera Thorstensen | Fundacao Getulio Vargas, Brazil |
29 | Verena Bitzer | Maastricht University |
30 | Ximena Rueda Fajardo | Universitat de Los Andes |
Non-AAC | ||
31 | Niematallah Elamin | UNCTAD |
32 | Ruby Lambert | UNCTAD |
33 | Rupal Verma | UNCTAD |
34 | Charline Depoorter | KU Leuven |
35 | Aik Hoe Lim | World Trade Orgnization |
37 | Elisa Tonda | UNEP |
38 | Joy Kim | UNEP |
39 | Nils Heuer | UNEP |
40 | Beatriz Fernandez | UNEP |
41 | Rogerio O Correa | INMETRO |
42 | Dolores T Brito | INMETRO |
43 | Vivian Xia | CAS |
44 | Manish Pande | QCI |
45 | Rituparna Mukherjee | QCI |
46 | Aderina Uli | BSN Indonesia |
47 | Dulbert | BSN Indonesia |
51 | Bernardo Calzadilla | UNIDO |
52 | Elisabeth Tuerk | UNECE |
53 | Geir Ulle | FAO |
54 | Shemina Amarsy | ITC |
56 | Hermogene Nsengimana | ARSO |
57 | Eri Uchimura | MOFA Japan |
58 | Martin Peters | SECO |
60 | Ewa Synowiec | EC |
61 | Luc Fransen (Philip Schleifer) | uVA |
62 | Eva Boonaert (Axel Marx) | KU Leuven |
63 | Lara Helsen | KU Leuven |
64 | Matteo Fiorini | OECD |
65 | Daniel Bloemers | EC |
66 | Julia Somogzi | EC |
67 | Cemre Balaban | OECD |
68 | Joshua Wickerham | ISEAL |
69 | Stavros Papastavrou | UNIDO |
70 | Lauro Locks | WTO |
71 | Patrick Jean GILABERT | UNIDO |
72 | Serra Ayral | WTO |
Participants:
AAC Members | |||
No. | Name | Affiliation | |
1 | Archna | Negi | Jawaharlal Nehru University |
2 | Ariel | Hernandez | Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik |
3 | Axel | Marx | KU Leuven |
4 | Bernard | Hoekman | European University Institute |
5 | Benjamin | Cashore | National University of Singapore |
6 | Clara | Brandi | Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik |
7 | Charline | Depoorter | KU Leuven |
8 | Elisabeth | Bennett | Lewis & Clark College |
9 | Engela | Schlemmer | Witz University |
10 | Eric | Lambin | Université catholique de Louvain |
11 | Eve | Fouilleux | CIRAD |
12 | Hamish | van der Ven | The University of British Columbia |
13 | Lars H. | Gulbrandsen | The Fridtjof Nansen Institute |
14 | Li | Li | University of Internatioanl Business and Economics |
15 | Janne | Bemelmans | KU Leuven |
16 | Jorge | Pérez-Pineda | Universidad Anáhuac Mexico |
17 | Marcelo | Olarreaga | University of Geneva |
18 | Miet | Maertens | KU Leuven |
19 | Mercedes | Araoz | Universidad del Pacífico |
20 | Niematallah E.A | Elamin | UNCTAD |
21 | Rachael | Garrett | ETH Zurich |
22 | Philip | Schleifer | University of Amsterdam |
23 | Robert | Heilmayr | UC Santa Barbara |
24 | Shaila Seshia | Galvin | Graduate Institute Geneva |
25 | Santiago Fernandez | de Cordoba | UNCTAD |
26 | Thomas | Dietz | Munster University |
27 | Vera | Thorstensen | Fundação Getulio Vargas |
UNFSS Steering Committee Representatives | |||
28 | Bernardo | Calzadilla-Sarmiento | UNIDO |
29 | Dorina | Nati | UNIDO |
30 | Elisabeth | Tuerk | UNECE |
31 | Emilie | Vandercandelaere | FAO |
32 | Geir | Ulle | FAO |
33 | Joseph | Wozniak | ITC |
34 | Nils | Heuer | UN Environment |
35 | Ruby | Lambert | UNCTAD |
36 | Steven | Stone | UN Environment |
Invited Guests | |||
37 | Charlotte | von Essen | GIZ – Germany |
38 | Danielle | Cantin | Natural Resources Canada |
39 | Deryck | Omar | CROSQ |
40 | Dolores T. | Brito | INMETRO |
41 | Elena | Antoni | Trade Impact |
42 | Eva | Nakamura | APEC SCSC/Market Access |
43 | Frauke | Rinelli | Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik |
44 | Franziska | Rau | GIZ – Germany |
45 | Fulgence | St Prix | CROSQ |
46 | Hussalmizzar | Hussain | Standards Malaysia |
47 | Julia | Schmidt | BMZ – Germany |
48 | Karin | Kreider | ISEAL |
49 | Luca | Maiotti | OECD |
50 | Liu | Xin | CAS |
51 | Manish | Pande | QCI |
52 | Martin | Peters | SECO |
53 | Michida | Etsuyo | IDE Japan |
54 | Mattia | Di Ubaldo | University of Sussex |
55 | Nicolas | Hachez | OECD |
56 | Rupal | Verma | Central European University |
57 | Rogerio O | Correa | INMETRO |
58 | Sandra | Pfuelb | GIZ – Germany |
59 | Thalyta Gomes | Ferraz | BRICS Policy Brazil |
60 | Tino | Clemens | BMZ – Germany |
61 | Viktoria | Vandercandelaere | GIZ – Germany |
62 | Vikrant | Shirodkar | University of Sussex |
63 | Vivian | Xia | CAS |
EUI listening participants | |||
64 | Arianna | Bondi | EUI |
65 | Pralok | Gupta | EUI |
Download Summary Report
Download Concept Note
Download Meeting Programme
Participants:
Research Institutions | Organizations | ||
Archna Negi | Jawaharlal Nehru University | Vidya Rangan | ISEAL |
Ariel Hernandez | German Development Institute (DIE)/University of Duisburg-Essen | Christian Robin | SECO |
Axel Marx | Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, University of Leuven | Anna Müller | WTO |
Benjamin Cashore | National University of Singapore | Philippe Pelletier | WTO |
Bernard Hoekman | European University Institute | Belinda Cleeland | ISO |
Clara Brandi | German Development Institute (DIE) | ||
Charline Depoorter | Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, University of Leuven | UNFSS Steering Committee | |
Engela Schlemmer | University of Witwatersrand | Ahmad Mukhtar | FAO |
Eric Lambin | Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University | Joseph Wozniak | ITC |
Eve Fouilleux | French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD) | Dominika Dor | UNIDO |
Graeme Auld | Carleton University | Karin Monaco | UNIDO |
Helga Willer | Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) | Beatriz Carneiro | UN Environment |
Jan Orbie | University of Ghent | Santiago Fernandez De Cordoba Briz | UNCTAD |
Jorge Pérez-Pineda | Universidad Anáhuac México | Siti Rubiah Lambert | UNCTAD |
Junji Nakagawa | University of Tokyo | Niematallah Elamin | UNCTAD |
Lars H. Gulbrandsen | Fridtjof Nansen Institute | Cecilia Heuser | UNCTAD |
Maja Tampe | Escuela Superior de Administración y Dirección (ESADE) | Anja-Katharina Von Moltke | UN Environment |
Marcelo Olarreaga | University of Geneva | ||
Matteo Fiorini | European University Institute | ||
Philip Schleifer | University of Amsterdam | ||
Shaila Seshia | Graduate Institute of Geneva | ||
Stefano Ponte | Copenhagen Business School | ||
Thomas Dietz | University of Münster | ||
Vera Thorstensen | Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) | ||
Verena Bitzer | Maastricht University |
