Events

September 21, 2023

The EU Due Diligence Regulation on Deforestation: What Role for Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS)?

This article delves into the European Union’s new Regulation on Deforestation-Free Products (EUDR) and probes the prospective role that Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) can play, potentially offering avenues for collecting information, risk evaluation, mitigation, monitoring, and assurance. The article highlights how certification processes can support enhancing supply chain transparency and mitigating supply chain vulnerabilities, ultimately aligning with the due diligence needs. Deforestation is a pressing global issue with far-reaching consequences for the environment, biodiversity, and climate change. The United Nations Food

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March 21, 2023

Navigating the Landscape of Voluntary Sustainability Standards: Challenges and Opportunities for Developing Countries 

Countries are striving to implement sustainable practices in the face of multiple crises, including climate change and food insecurity, as well as disruptions in international trade. There is thus a clear need for a profound transformation to achieve sustainable development. There has been a growing interest in the role that trade and trade policy measures, such as voluntary sustainability standards (VSS), can play in advancing sustainable development and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  Following this impetus, the United Nations Forum

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November 2, 2022

Sustainable Trade in a Globalized World: The time to reconcile development opportunities is now

On Wednesday, 26 October 2022, the United Nations Forum on Sustainability Standards (UNFSS) held its conference on Sustainable Trade and Development Opportunities in Brussels, Belgium to call on the expertise of the Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade, Bernd Lange; Jamaica’s Ambassador-designate to Belgium and Head of Mission to the EU, Symone Betton Nayo; and ISEAL’s Director of Programmes, Kristin Komives; and moderated by Director and Professor of the Global Economics at the Robert Schuman Centre for

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May 30, 2022

Triple Vulnerabilities: The Role of Sustainable Trade and Value Chains

In a world grappling with converging disruptions: effects of the pandemic, supply chain strains, and climate change; the conflict in Ukraine further risks pushing the world into a global crisis. UNCTAD’s analysis indicates a worsening outlook for the world’s economy, underpinned by rising food, fuel and fertilizer prices, heightened financial volatility, sustainable development divestment, complex global supply chain reconfigurations and mounting trade costs. “Soaring food and fuel prices will affect the most vulnerable in developing countries, putting

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UNFSS National Platforms
May 25, 2022

Local Solutions for Global Challenges: The Role of UNFSS National Platforms’ Network in maximising benefits of Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS)

Everyday life has been struck by climate change effects, deepening poverty and hunger, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the crisis in Ukraine. As a result, the world is witnessing accelerating existing vulnerabilities and widening inequalities. The value of multilateralism and trade cannot be undermined in providing a sustainable recovery path, especially for the most vulnerable groups. In light of the above, the UNFSS National Platform and Initiative Cooperation Network (NPICN) met on 24th May

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April 7, 2022

Africa prepares to mainstream Voluntary Sustainability Standards: Launch of the African Continental platform on Voluntary Sustainability Standards

On 6th April 2022, the African Organisation for standardization (ARSO), in collaboration with UNFSS, launched the African Continental platform on Voluntary Sustainability Standards. The platform will promote the development and implementation of sustainability standards, assist Small and Mid-size Enterprises (SMEs) in their implementation, and encourage the establishment of national platforms in ARSO member countries. The launch was conducted virtually and discussed the importance of an established multi-stakeholder platform for collectively assessing VSS’s impact on Africa’s sustained trade growth and sustainable development.

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March 16, 2022

Empowering Women is Smart Economics and Pathway Towards the SDGs

Improving gender equality has many positive impacts on individuals and also on society at large. Empowering women in the economy and closing gender gaps are key to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. When more women work, economies grow! Empowering women to become full economic citizens has grown importance in the work of the United Nations Forum on Sustainability Standards (UNFSS). The underlying point of reference as Mr. Santiago Fernandez de Cordoba, Senior Economist andUNFSS Coordinator, UNCTAD prescribed as a

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February 15, 2022

Voluntary Sustainability Standards for People, Planet, and Prosperity: Focus on G20

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed systemic fragilities across the globe. The pandemic has not only been a global health crisis but also has severely impacted the global economy and financial markets. The pandemic has affected people’s livelihoods, health and disrupted food systems. Significant reductions in income, rise in unemployment, and disruption in services have been common aftermath, especially in the developing countries. Fig.1 International trade plunged as the virus spread (Source:

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December 7, 2021

Standards and Poverty Reduction: What role do Voluntary Sustainability Standards play? 

03rd December 2021, Geneva – The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) launched the report- IISD’s SSI Review: Standards and Poverty Reduction. The report was launched in a joint UNCTAD-IISD webinar, held as a part of IISD Trade + Sustainability Hub, 2021. The report examines the potential of voluntary sustainability standards (VSS) operating in the agriculture sector to reduce poverty, which includes a chapter that UNCTAD and IISD wrote jointly on Understanding Smallholder Farmer Access to VSS-compliant Markets.  It is estimated that 80% of the

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November 24, 2021

Research Frontiers on the Adoption, Impact and Effectiveness of Voluntary Sustainability Standards

The United Nations introduced the word “sustainability” into common usage, and defined sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”- Brundtland Report, 1987. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has broadened the scope and premise of the strategies for development with full considerations for social factors as it includes employment, education, nutrition, health, income distribution, poverty reduction, basic needs, the environment. However, there cannot

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