unfss

About UNFSS

The United Nations Forum on Sustainability Standards (UNFSS) is a joint initiative of 5 UN Agencies (FAO, ITC, UNCTAD, UN Environment and UNIDO) that seeks to address these challenges. It is a demand-driven forum for intergovernmental actors to communicate among each other and engage with key target groups (producers, traders, consumers, standard-setters, certification-bodies, trade diplomats, relevant NGOs and researchers) to address their information needs and influence concerned stakeholders. It aims to provide impartial information, analysis, and discussions on VSS and their potential contribution to facilitate market access, strengthen public goods and achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Most importantly, the UNFSS focuses on potential trade or development obstacles VSS may create, with particular emphasis on their impact on SMEs and less developed countries.

May 30, 2018

ISEAL report: The effectiveness of standards in driving adoption of sustainability practices (2018)

A State of Knowledge Review (2018) Voluntary sustainability standards (VSS) are an important means of providing assurance that products and materials traded in complex, global supply chains have been produced in an ethical and environmentally benign way. Understanding what these standards deliver on the ground is an important part of the debate about their ongoing relevance. To address this question, ISEAL commissioned 3Keel and the University of Oxford to conduct a review of the evidence on whether standards systems drive the adoption

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May 25, 2018

Andean Community Sustainable Trade Workshop in Lima, Peru on 5-6 June 2018

In recent years, Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) had an increasing influence over export opportunities for developing countries to access the international markets. The fast-changing landscape matters to everyone: consumers, buyers, traders, producers, and policymakers, given its pertinence in the global trends, market access conditions and the standards used at all levels of the supply chains. In 2016, Andean Community exports to the EU reached US $13,718 million, with agri-food products exports representing 43% between these two partners, making EU the

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March 13, 2018

Launch of the New UNFSS Website

The United Nations Forum on Sustainability Standards (UNFSS) recently unveiled its newly designed website.  The newly revamped website, which was launched last month, has been optimized for easier access to information, improved functionality, and enriched content areas. The website aims to become a hub  that provides information on the potential value of voluntary standards for a more equitable, fair and sustainable development. As a public online platform, the UNFSS website intends to increase understanding stimulate the dialogue among partners, and support

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February 28, 2018

The Political Economy of Sustainable Palm Oil in China and India

New research looks into emerging markets and private governance, in particular at the case of sustainable palm oil in China and India. Carried out by Dr. Philip Schleifer from University of Amsterdam and Dr. Yixian Sun from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID), the study suggested that “private governance programs are now an important source of regulation in global value chains – particularly in the context of North-South trade”. The study posed the

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December 15, 2017

Mexico Towards Sustainable Development Workshop 2017

Ministry of Economy, Mexico DF, DECEMBER 14-15 2017 The aim is to gather state representatives, coalitions of non-governmental actors, industry and academia to discuss the actual context of Mexico´s Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) and have a dialogue around ‘How can sustainability standards take better account of the special needs of developing countries?’ This workshop is organized by the Dirección General de Normas, Secretaria de Economia, México and the German Development Institute (DIE). The workshop will have several conferences from experts, from the

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November 28, 2017

Public policy and private standards, case studies by ISEAL Alliance

A new series of case-studies developed by the ISEAL Alliance illustrates how VSS and governments can collaborate to create more sustainable supply chains. With this initiative, ISEAL aims to provide new insights for policy-makers and stimulate further dialogue on the interactions between governments and sustainability standards – an important topic that was the focus of the UNFSS’s 2nd Flagship report in 2016. The case-studies build on the UNFSS Flagship report discussions into the optimal dynamics between public policy processes

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October 31, 2017

Outcome Report of the Expert Meeting on VSS, Market Access and Trade-Led Sustainable Development

The VSS discussions on September 27 had a twofold objective viz., to, firstly, have a policy discussion on the need for global governance in dealing with the multiplicity of VSS and harnessing them as tools to achieve sustainable growth through trade in producing countries; and, secondly, the emergence of multi-stakeholder approach at the national level in the form of national VSS platforms in several emerging countries and sharing the lessons learn in holistically discussing strategic approaches to VSS.

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October 24, 2017

Southern powers begin shaping Sustainability Standards, by German Development Institute (DIE)

International organisations based in Geneva have recently devoted great attention to voluntary sustainability standards (VSS) which claim to align production and consumption patterns with certain social, environmental and ethical specifications. The United Nations Forum for Sustainability Standards under the leadership of UNCTAD should facilitate a multi-stakeholder process for sharing experiences, joint knowledge creation and policy dialogue on VSS.

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