Six years ago, ISEAL published a comprehensive review and synthesis of existing literature and evidence of the business benefits of using sustainability standards.

The presentation given by Kristin Komives and Vidya Rangan at the Global Sutainability Standards Symposium 2019, running through the current state of available evidence on the impacts of sustainability standards and similar systems.

There is now wide recognition that the ongoing pandemic has had a profound impact on women across all dimensions of economic and social activity. From shifting gender roles within the household to effects on women’s active role in the economy and the real health and well-being effects of the pandemic, there is a growing concern that women are ‘losing out’ severely. From the standpoint of sustainability standards and systems, the pandemic has opened up the opportunity to review many streams of work, including how they conduct their assurance activities.

This research aims to contribute evidence of the Impacts of Voluntary Sustainability Standards as well as provide a working definition for the concept of systemic impacts.

This report looks at the issues facing small certified producers and their expectations and experiences of certification, and explores how standards can address producers’ needs and priorities.

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.

A concise document that outlines the key lessons learned from the VIA Initiative.

This document summarises the results of a pilot project coordinated by ISEAL to face the challenge of communicating the impacts of standards. It also reflects on the value of this pilot as a rich learning experience for all the individuals involved.

An introduction to the new GIS self-starter kit, which gives a glimpse of the possibilities of GIS and how the tools can be integrated into audit routines. The self-starter kit explains what GIS is, introduces some commonly used GIS software and applications and describes how to use them.

Credible sustainability standards have created tried and tested structures for operationalising sustainability across various regions, sectors and supply chains. How can governments and businesses capitalise on their success to proactively drive sustainability? Join ISEAL, ISEAL members, and other benchmarking experts as we discuss how rigorous, transparent and consistent benchmarking can help to operationalise due diligence requirements and make sustainability tools more accessible. Our experienced panellists discussed the aims behind the development of these benchmarking frameworks, how to ensure they encourage adoption of credible standards among governments and businesses, and possible paths forward – as well as referencing available tools and guidance.

This resource includes the recording, slides and agenda of the first learning workshop of the remote auditing project.

This resource includes the recording and slides of the second learning workshop of the remote auditing project.

An introduction to the World Benchmarking Alliance.

Understanding whether sustainability standards make a difference on the ground is an ongoing concern for sustainability standards and for the many businesses and governments that rely on them to operationalize sustainability in supply chains and landscapes.

Sustainability systems are market-based tools designed to address the most pressing social and environmental challenges of our time. They define responsible practices, assess the implementation of these practices, and measure and communicate results. Sustainability systems are used in most sectors worldwide to improve social and environmental performance. Download this one page, full description of a sustainability system.

This document sets out what our Code Compliant status recognises for our Community Members and outlines the structure of the ISEAL membership.

A working paper for the project “New data to detect forced labour in agriculture”.

ISEAL works to improve the credibility and impacts of sustainability standards and understanding impacts is an important strategic goal. This paper is the first attempt to draw on internal performance monitoring data of schemes and external research to analyse the reach and characteristics of smallholder farmers within ISEAL member agriculture schemes. This is the third in a series of collective reporting briefing papers researched by ISEAL as part of the ‘Demonstrating and Improving Poverty Impacts’ (DIPI) project. 

This 2017 report by WWF and ISEAL explores how businesses can use credible voluntary sustainability standards to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Spanish translation of 2017 report summary by Aidenvironment and commissioned by ISEAL on the business benefits that using sustainability standards can deliver to various business entities along the length of the supply chain.

Guide to standard setting in Spanish.

¿Trabajas o interactúas con normas de sostenibilidad o sistemas similares? Ayúdanos a dar forma a su desempeño futuro enviándonos tus comentarios sobre el Código Revisado de Buenas Prácticas de ISEAL.

Webinar on how to establish strong credible standards in Spanish.