Flagship resources from the ISEAL Innovations Fund and Programme

Flagship resources from the ISEAL Innovations Fund and Programme

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From 2016-2022, the first phase of the ISEAL Innovations Fund and Programme lead new research and convened extensive global consultations with practitioners, researchers, businesses and government authorities to understand the landscape in which sustainability systems operate.

Collectively the programme helped define good practices and identified entry points to equip sustainability systems with the knowledge and expertise they need to respond to emerging opportunities and drive systemic change. Below is a snapshot of some of the flagship reports produced, which advance thinking in key areas.

The business benefits of adopting sustainability standards: A review of literature and evidence in the last six years

Six years ago, ISEAL published a comprehensive review and synthesis of existing literature and evidence of the business benefits of using sustainability standards.
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Report | How sustainability standards can contribute to landscape approaches and zero deforestation (2016)

This report first examines how standards systems are being applied to landscapes and jurisdictions. It then explores factors that are important to the effective application of sustainability strategies at a landscape level and identifies opportunities to strengthen the role that standards systems can play in implementing those strategies.
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Effective company actions in landscapes and jurisdictions: guiding practices (2022)

For companies working to improve sustainability performance within their supply chains, engaging in landscape and jurisdictional approaches is a way to take action at scale. This set of guiding practices for effective company actions in landscapes and jurisdictions aims to support companies taking this step.
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Making Credible Jurisdictional Claims Good Practice Guide

ISEAL has developed a good practice guide to help ensure that sustainability claims made by jurisdictions, landscape initiatives, and the companies that source from or support them, are credible. The guidance covers the structural and performance claims a jurisdictional entity may wish to make, along with the supporting action claims of other related stakeholders.
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Framework for adapting and improving sustainability strategies

Global sustainability challenges are complex problems and determining the best strategies to bring about lasting improvements in sustainability performance remains a core challenge for sustainability systems. Many are increasingly experimenting with a wide range of strategies to reach their sustainability goals. However, the effectiveness of these strategies is highly dependent on the context in which they are applied. 
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Choosing effective sustainability strategies based on enabling conditions

The context in which sustainability systems operate significantly influences the scale, depth and durability of their impacts. This is an important consideration when designing new strategies to improve sustainability performance. To provide support in this area, we have developed the following resources:
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Structuring data sharing and licensing agreements

This document discusses core concepts, such as consent and rights, that underpin governance of data use and sharing. It proposes general principles and steps for a reasoned and documented approach to data rights, control and sharing for the ISEAL community. The purpose of this guidance is to help sustainability systems: 1) establish certified entities’ rights to data related to certified activities; and 2) responsibly use and share those data.
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Unlocking the value of your data: A practical guide for sustainability systems to turn data into actionable insights

This document provides practical guidance for sustainability systems to support them in generating valuable and actionable insights from data. Utilizing concepts in data science, it is intended for sustainability systems seeking to maximise the value of their data, combine data sources, and enable improved data-driven decision making procedures.
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Impacts and outcomes claims and communications guidance

This guidance equips sustainability systems with practical tips on how they can make their impact claims more meaningful and effective with confidence and accuracy.
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Aligning and Combining: What we’ve learned about metrics and data sharing

This resource reviews the benefits and challenges of metrics alignment and data sharing for organisations, and provides a roadmap and considerations to help think through undertaking them. The guidance builds on learnings from projects by ISEAL and its members, where metrics alignment and data sharing were key.
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Performance metrics for key sustainability issues

This report assesses leading metrics for measuring and reporting performance over time and across multiple spatial scales. It examines six critical sustainability issues: deforestation, biodiversity, water use, forced labour, poverty, and greenhouse gas emissions. The research supports sustainability systems in making data-driven outcome claims and provides insight into evaluating metric suitability. The report focuses on applicability of metrics and data sources, best practices, and associated limitations and trade-offs.
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Report | Credible assurance at a landscape level (2019)

Discussion paper and webinar on landscape and jurisdictional assurance and claims.
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Guidance: Remote auditing good practices

The COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted the ability of many sustainability systems to perform on-site audits. Many have had to implement new policies and adapt to new ways of working. In many ways, this forced many sustainability systems to rapidly innovate during the pandemic, by embracing novel technologies and piloting new approaches to assess sites remotely.  
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