Sustainability standards

timelapse photo of train
December 15, 2021

Podcast feature: Voluntary sustainability standards and trade in developing countries 

Globalization has brought profound changes to international trade over the last 50 years. Value chains are now spread around the globe and are becoming more complex. Today, about US $8 trillion worth of world trade goes through Global Value Chains (GVCs), accounting for nearly 70% of the total share of global trade. According to UNCTAD’s research, majority of the developing countries are increasingly participating in GVCs. As a result, the developing-country share in global value-added trade increased from 20%

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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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March 23, 2020

Leveraging public procurement as a political vehicle to promote the SDGs

Governments’ pledges for sustainable development are flourishing, most notably as they signed up to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. But how can they translate such pledges into practice? Voluntary Sustainability Standards, or VSS, have been recognised as potentially transformative tools for sustainable trade, and they offer great potential for governments to realise their sustainability commitments through two main avenues. First, public procurement represents, on average, 12 percent of GDP in OECD countries, and up to 30 percent of GDP in

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September 17, 2018

Launch of the 3rd Flagship Report: Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS), Trade and Sustainable Development

3rd UNFSS Flagship Report: Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS), Trade and Sustainable Development   The relationship between Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS), trade and sustainable development are among the most pronounced concepts sought-after the realm of green global value chains. We typically see the benefits of imposing sustainability standards as a positive advantage contributing to the environment, social and the economy. The VSS system has in fact influence the export landscape to either facilitate market access or become an obstacle to trade, especially for importing countries that have turned to

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March 15, 2016

Launch of the Indian National Platform on Private Sustainable Standards, 18 March 2016, New Delhi, India.

  On 18 March the Government of India launched a national platform on private sustainability standards. The platform was supported by UNFSS, a joint initiative of five UN Agencies (FAO, ITC, UNCTAD, UNEP and UNIDO). The Quality Council of India (QCI) and UNFSS have agreed to collaborate on setting up a National Platform on PSS in India. The Quality Council of India (QCI) is the national quality facilitation and accreditation body, set up by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government

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August 4, 2015

New UNFSS Discussion Papers

We are happy to announce the addition of 3 new Discussion Papers to the UNFSS Discussion Paper Series: UNFSS Discussion Paper #4 Public-Private Collaboration on Policy, Standards, Regulations and Trade Facilitation for Organic Agriculture, by Diane Bowen, in collaboration with Ulrich Hoffmann UNFSS Discussion Paper #5 Plurilateral Regulatory Cooperation on Organic Agriculture and Trade, by Diane Bowen, in collaboration with Ulrich Hoffmann UNFSS Discussion Paper #6 Assuring Coherence between the Market-access and Livelihood Impact of Private

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April 9, 2015

UNFSS participation in events in India – 4th quarter 2014

The UNFSS was present at the following events in India in the last quarter of 2014: 29-30 October 2014 – Conference on Trade, Transport and Transit Facilitation in South Asia: Imperative of Bridging Macro-Meso-Micro Gaps between India and Bangladesh. The conference was held at the Hotel Lalit Great Eastern in Kolkata, India, and organised by CUTS International. Mr. Bhutani was a panellist in the session on Standards and Transport related Barriers to Trade Facilitation between Bangladesh and India.

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October 24, 2014

UNFSS at the WTO Public Forum 2014

The UNFSS participated in a session of the WTO Public Forum 2014 under the topic “Voluntary Sustainability Standards: Building Equity in and Access to Sustainable Markets” on 3 October 2014 at the WTO headquarters, Geneva. The session was hosted by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the State of Sustainability Initiatives (SSI). Panelists included representatives from the UNFSS, the Sustainable Commodity Assistance Network (SCAN), Smallholders’ Access to Markets for Certified Sustainable

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UNFSS in CII/IISD Conference – New Delhi, India

UNFSS addresses CII/IISD Conference on Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement: Its Impact on India and Developing Nations in New Delhi, India on 12 August 2014. Ulrich Hoffmann, Coordinator of the UNFSS, was invited by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the International Institute for Sustainable Development to make a presentation on the importance of private sustainability standards for market access, their role as governance tool in international supply chains and their contribution to achieving specific sustainable

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