Fund updates and resources
The ISEAL Innovations Fund supports sustainability systems to drive action on critical sustainability challenges, and operate at scale. Discover learning resources and updates below.
The Innovations Fund is currently closed to new applications. Please check back on this page for updates.
Learning briefs on key issues and opportunities
Learning briefs exploring how sustainability systems are evolving to respond to critical issues and opportunities, supported by the Innovations Fund.
The ISEAL Innovations Fund supports sustainability systems to drive collective action on key sustainability challenges. This learning brief is part of a series exploring how sustainability systems supported by the Innovations Fund are evolving to respond to emerging issues and opportunities. The brief examines how sustainability systems are advancing performance monitoring and reporting to track progress on critical sustainability issues. Explore the project portfolio.
The ISEAL Innovations Fund supports sustainability systems to drive collective action on key sustainability challenges. This learning brief is part of a series exploring how sustainability systems supported by the Innovations Fund are evolving to respond to emerging issues and opportunities. The brief examines how sustainability systems are innovating in their approaches to climate action, drawing insights from 18 active and completed Innovations Fund projects. Explore the project portfolio.
This brief examines how sustainability systems are seeking to improve livelihoods and market access for small-scale producers. It is part of a series exploring how sustainability systems supported by the Innovations Fund are evolving to respond to emerging issues and opportunities.
This learning brief is part of a series exploring how sustainability systems supported by the ISEAL Innovations Fund are evolving to respond to emerging issues and opportunities. This brief examines how sustainability systems are innovating approaches to advance human rights across a variety of contexts. Drawing insights from 17 completed and active projects, this review shines a light on new and emerging trends, challenges and opportunities.
This brief presents examples of how sustainability systems are responding to new and critical challenges and opportunities – or ‘innovation drivers’. It draws on insights from ISEAL members and other participants at the Scaling Innovations event run by the ISEAL Innovations Fund in March 2026.
Case studies on small-scale producer support
Case studies on emerging strategies to drive change for small-scale producers, supported by the Innovations Fund.
Small producer inclusion is essential if supply chains are going to become more sustainable at the scale and pace needed for climate resilience. The ISEAL Innovations Fund presents four case studies below of innovations led by sustainability systems, addressing specific barriers and opportunities related to small producer inclusion for climate resilience.
Due diligence – actions a company takes to prevent, mitigate or remedy harm caused by their work – includes human rights and environmental commitments (HREDD). Sustainability systems play a critical role in supporting companies to meet their due diligence requirements. Presenting examples from the Innovations Fund and building on ISEAL’s recent explainer, The role of credible sustainability systems in supporting corporate due diligence, these case studies show how sustainability systems are innovating to support companies in their due diligence across supply chains, raising the bar for human and social rights and environmental standards.
Small-scale producers play a vital role in sustainable production and land use — but too often, they lack access to the resources they need to adopt more sustainable practices and participate in global value chains, limiting their ability to achieve a decent standard of living. This three-part case study series explores how sustainability systems and their partners supported by the ISEAL Innovations Fund are enabling small-scale producer market access and shifts to sustainable production - including approaches for meaningful stakeholder engagement to understand their needs, priorities and realities, to develop strategies for strengthening inclusion and resilience, with a focus on
Small-scale producers play a vital role in sustainable production and land use — but too often, they lack the resources and economic resilience needed to adopt more sustainable practices. This case study highlights practical approaches that are helping bridge this gap by creating incentives that bring climate, environmental and social benefits, including premiums, incentives and recognising and rewarding community stewardship. Part of a series exploring promising approaches for enabling small-scale producer market access and shifts to sustainable production: Case study: Stakeholder engagement for small-scale producer inclusion Case study: Supporting inclusion of small-scale producers Case study: Market incentives for sustainable production
Improving the livelihoods and well-being of smallholders, small-scale producers and workers is a priority for many sustainability systems. This case study looks at some of the innovative ways sustainability systems and partners supported by the ISEAL Innovations Fund are enabling small-scale producers to benefit from accessing markets and participating in global value chains. Part of a series exploring promising approaches for enabling small-scale producer market access and shifts to sustainable production: Case study: Stakeholder engagement for small-scale producer inclusion Case study: Supporting inclusion of small-scale producers - download below Case study: Market incentives for sustainable production by small-scale producers
Improving the livelihoods, wellbeing and sustainable production practices of small-scale producers requires effective methods to engage with and connect these producers and other stakeholders – which can be a challenge in complex global supply chains. This case study looks at how sustainability systems and their partners supported by the ISEAL Innovations Fund are approaching this topic. Part of a series exploring promising approaches for enabling small-scale producer market access and shifts to sustainable production: Case study: Stakeholder engagement for small-scale producer inclusion - download below Case study: Supporting inclusion of small-scale producers Case study: Market incentives for sustainable production by
Innovations Fund learning resources
Key learning resources exploring how the Innovations Fund creates an enabling environment for long-term innovation and collaboration across sustainability systems.
In 2025 the ISEAL Innovations Fund commissioned research into how voluntary sustainability systems go about scaling innovative practices. This study explored how to close the 'pilot-to-scale' gap. It identifies six main pathways through which sustainability innovations can scale. These include integrating an innovation into public policy or industry standards, embedding it within organisational operations, expanding it through partnerships or open platforms, driving uptake through market incentives, or embedding it in widely used digital systems and platforms. Successful scaling efforts often combine several of these routes—for example, a digital tool may start as an open platform, gain traction through market demand
To meet today’s sustainability challenges requires new thinking, collaborations and ways of working. ISEAL's Innovations Fund cultivates this by providing grants to sustainability systems to develop innovative approaches and drive sector transformation. This learning brief: Explores how projects supported by the Fund between 2017 and 2022 have progressed after completion Identifies the critical factors that contributed to their growth and development Offers insights into types of scaling, best practices, challenges and barriers, and recommendations on how to facilitate effective scaling. Explore the full project portfolio.
The only way to solve the sustainability challenges that we face today – from deforestation to biodiversity loss to inequality and poverty – is through greater collaboration, collective action, and innovation. We believe that sustainability systems are an important part of this solution by driving the sustainable transformation of complex commodity sectors and global supply chains.
Updates
Stay up-to-date with the latest news on a range of topics from the Innovations Fund.
