An introduction to ISEAL’s Finance Committee, which was established in 2006 to oversee all issues related to the financial management of ISEAL. The Committee reviews for example ISEAL’s quarterly accounts, annual budgets and other issues related to ISEAL’s financial reporting and performance.

An introduction to the Membership Committee, a permanent committee of the ISEAL Board of Directors that is responsible primarily for forming recommendations on new membership applications, deciding on member disputes that may arise as a result of an independent evaluation of Code Compliance, and deciding on appeals decisions of the Secretariat not to recommend ISEAL Community Member status or to suspend or withdraw Code Compliant status.

An introduction to ISEAL’s Technical Committee. The Technical Committee is a permanent sub-committee of the ISEAL Board that is responsible primarily for technical oversight of the ISEAL Codes of Good Practice and other Credibility Tools.

This report summarises an assessment of a range of leading metrics that can be used to credibly measure and report on performance over time and across multiple spatial scales. The research focuses on six critical sustainability issues: deforestation, biodiversity, water use, forced labour, poverty, and Greenhouse Gas emissions.

In recent years, we’ve seen a growing interest from sustainability systems in tackling gender inequalities through their schemes. A 2022 ISEAL-CGIAR Gender Equality Initiative scoping study tried to understand how some of ISEAL's Community Members are integrating gender into their schemes. It highlighted the important role systems can play in reducing gender inequalities and improving women's empowerment.

This paper discusses how voluntary sustainability standards and certification schemes can play an important role in this smart mix, in particular in terms of supporting supply chain regulation on deforestation.

Since launching in 2013 after extensive global consultations, ISEAL's Credibility Principles have become an international reference for defining the foundations of credible practices for sustainability standards. Starting mid-May 2020, we are leading consultations that will expand the scope of the Credibility Principles beyond sustainability standards to include a wider range of systems, such as data-driven and landscape approaches. We are also updating content to reflect current and future trends affecting standards and similar systems.

We believe that the credibility of market-based sustainability tools is more important than ever for trade and public policy. But what do we mean by credibility? And what trends and issues are shaping our understanding of credibility going forward?

In 2013, ISEAL launched the Credibility Principles, which provide an international reference for defining the foundations of credible practices for sustainability standards. Over the last decade there has also been increasing interest and research into specific principles such as transparency, accessibility and how system credibility is an important factor influencing impacts.

This short paper provides high-level summaries of BetterCoal, IRMA and TSM and outlines under which circumstances ResponsibleSteel will recognise mine sites participating in the programmes.

ResponsibleSteel has assessed Bettercoal, IRMA and TSM against a defined recognition benchmark as laid out in the ‘Recognition assessment tool’. The recognition assessments served to determine whether the programmes meet our benchmark and could thus be recognised. This paper provides high-level summaries of the three programmes and outlines under which circumstances ResponsibleSteel will recognise mine sites participating in the programmes

This document describes ResponsibleSteel’s methodology for the recognition of input material programmes. It is underpinned by a series of Excel templates, the ‘ResponsibleSteel Recognition Assessment Tool’, that serve to implement the methodology.

Information about grants to conduct remote auditing pilots

A compilation of the lessons learned from four pilot projects in remote auditing from Responsible Jewellery Council, LEAF Marque, Beter Cotton Initiative, and Fairtrade USA. LEAF Marque and the Responsible Jewellery Council looked at the extent to which remote auditing could provide an alternative to in-person on-site visits, while the two other pilot projects used a remote phone survey based on worker voice technology to carry out interviews with workers in factory settings (in the case of Fair Trade USA) and in an agricultural setting on cotton farms (Better Cotton Initiative – BCI).

This resource presents a summary of the one-on-one interviews with ISEAL members and select other sustainability initiatives as part of the project on remote auditing practices and assurance responses to COVID-19.

Discussion paper and webinar on landscape and jurisdictional assurance and claims.

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.

This methodological paper from ISEAL shares insights and lessons learned from three ongoing impact evaluations that completed their baseline in 2016 and are due for end line evaluation in 2019.

This ISEAL commissioned report, carried out by 3keel and the University of Oxford, aims to understand the effectiveness of sustainability standards and certification tools in driving the adoption of more sustainable practices in certified entities, thereby contributing to the achievement of key sustainability outcomes