ISEAL Alliance

If you haven’t registered for the ISEAL Alliance Conference 2010, this week is your last chance to sign up. We already have an envious roster of delegate experts in the world of voluntary standards.

From our own members we have Rainforest Alliance, Fairtrade, UTZ, FSC, MSC and many more participating but our conference also includes senior representatives from Mars, Walmart, Royal Ahold, GlobalGap, UNEP, experts on China and representatives from the Swiss and German governments.

On 22 June the ISEAL Alliance and its members – Fairtrade, the Rainforest Alliance, FSC, MSC and others – open the door to a rare day of networking attracting leaders from multinational retailers, NGOs, government and academia.

Sign up to our conference and you’ll find yourself at the focal point of the year for social and environmental sustainability standards. Not only will you get a glimpse of the future but this is a space where you can uniquely access all the main standard systems in one place.

This event offers a diverse and energetic programme including how to predict the landscape of voluntary standards in 2020, the implications of China’s increasing appetite for sustainability standards, the contribution standards can make to a low carbon economy and the role of retailers in scaling up sustainability outcomes.

Another highlight is the launch of the ISEAL 100, a survey of 100 thought leaders from across a range of sectors from food and beverage to energy and the financial sector who deal directly in procurement, CSR, ethical trading, voluntary standards or policy. The findings examine the positive direction of business engagement with standard systems.

Join experts from around the globe, our membership and our staff to debate current trends, identify challenges and focus on the future.  ISEAL staff will be on hand to offer their expertise throughout the day.

Brief Session Descriptions

What will the Standards Systems Landscape Look like in 2020?
The landscape in which standards systems operate is evolving rapidly. With the world’s attention increasingly on standards systems to deliver sustainability, with emerging economies building momentum and hungry for leadership, with major commitments made by business champions, and with climate change looming, what will the global sustainability landscape look like in 2020 and what are the key actions that the standards movement needs to take now to ensure continued relevance and leadership?

“The current sustainability standards landscape: emerging trends” – presentation by Dr. Sasha Courville, ISEAL’s Executive Director, based on mapping research conducted by ISEAL and AccountAbility, followed by a panel discussion with leaders from government, business and civil society.

Social and Environmental Standards in China: Current Situation, Future Possibilities
China’s appetite for social and environmental standards is increasing. Yet, will Chinese stakeholders develop their own standards or will they work with global standards frameworks? What are the main concerns of Chinese enterprises in adopting global sustainability standards for export or domestic use? 

Presentations from: Joshua Wickerham, China Representative, AccountAbility, and Martin Ma, SAI China Program Director.

High Stakes: The Role of Retailers in Scaling Up Sustainability Outcomes
Retailers are taking on leadership roles in sustainable supply chain management. Many are also experimenting with consumer facing initiatives to provide clear information in a consistent package to consumers about the sustainability attributes of products and services.  Where are there opportunities for cooperation among retailers and where are these strategies the basis for market differentiation?

While retailer leadership is crucial to reach transformational change, how are standards systems currently integrated into the design of these strategies?  What role can standards systems play in ensuring the credibility of retailer-led consumer-facing initiatives? What do retailers really need from standards systems to achieve stronger and scaled up sustainability outcomes and what is the risk of being left behind?

Presentations from Chris McCann, Ethical Sourcing Country Manager (UK), Walmart, Karin Bogaers, Coordinator Social Compliance, Royal Ahold and Hans-Peter Egler, Swiss State Secretariat For Economic Affairs (SECO).

ISEAL 100
The ISEAL 100 is a survey of 100 thought leaders from a range of sectors (including retail, finance, food and beverage) about the use of standards, the awareness of standards and the motivations of standards. They have provided an exhaustive – and often controversial – insight into the development, credibility and awareness of social and environmental standards.

What Role for Sustainability Standards Systems in Contributing to a Low Carbon Economy?
Dealing with climate change is one of the biggest challenges confronting governments and business. The objective of this session is to explore the context that climate change sets for all those interested in building a more sustainable future, the expectations and challenges that moving towards a low carbon economy entails, and the implications for the movement of voluntary standards systems.

What is the Role of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in Social and Environmental Standards Systems?
Tools that consider the entire life cycle of a given product, from the production or extraction of raw materials to manufacturing, packaging, transport, consumption and disposal, are becoming increasingly popular for global supply chain management. 

While there are a few notable exceptions among ISEAL members, most global social and environmental standards systems have developed standards around a set of key social and/or environmental issues linked to a specific site (usually at production or harvesting of raw materials or manufacturing). 

An upcoming challenge and opportunity for the standards movement is to identify synergies between life-cycle based tools and site specific standards to deliver on comprehensive sustainability outcomes as demanded by retailers and consumers alike.

Presentations from Gregor Wernet, ecoinvent centre in Switzerland,  Greg Norris, New Earth/Harvard/TSC and Catherine Benoît, New Earth/University of New Hampshire/TSC.

Measuring Impacts – Three Sessions
These three sessions are focused on researchers with a particular interest in social and environmental standards systems and ISEAL personnel who are responsible for (or interested in) monitoring and evaluation.

Presentations from Sietze Vellema, Wageningen University, Jason Donovan, Centre for Tropical Agricultural Research (CATIE), Daniele Giovanucci, Committee on Sustainability Assessment (COSA) and others.