This document is a short ‘start here’ level introduction for buyers of certified commodities as users, stakeholders, participants and license holders of ISEAL member schemes or other sustainability systems.

In the suite of guidance documents, there are four such 'opening' guides, for buyers (this document), certificate holders/applicants, schemes, and assurance and oversight providers. It is recommended that each stakeholder group begins with their respective opening guidance, followed by the general ‘Introductory Guidance’, which goes into more contextual detail and finally the ‘Guidance for Sustainability Systems to Design and Implement Credible Greenhouse Gas Reporting systems’.

Learn more about the project, 'A shared value approach to climate impact at landscape scale' (2020-22), led by Gold Standard, supported by the ISEAL Innovations Fund and Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO.