ISEAL and partners are looking for an experienced and reputed research team to conduct a systematic evidence review on the effects of supply chain sustainability approaches on decent work outcomes in the agriculture, textile and apparel sectors. Deadline for expressions of interest: 10th April 2023 Deadline for submitting proposals: 20th April 2023

The Modelling a Path to More Sustainable Landscapes project is a three-year effort to spatially analyze the baseline risk of commodity production and the role of sustainability policies to mitigate those risks. This document is for people interested in increasing the value and integrity of data and in assessing the potential impacts of policy decisions in terms of agriculture production and environmental outcomes.

The Modelling a Path to More Sustainable Landscapes project is a three-year effort to spatially analyse the baseline risk of commodity production and the role of sustainability policies to mitigate those risks. This document is for people interested in increasing the value and integrity of data and in assessing the potential impacts of policy decisions in terms of agriculture production and environmental outcomes.

The Modelling a Path to More Sustainable Landscapes project is a three-year effort to spatially analyse the baseline risk of commodity production and the role of sustainability policies to mitigate those risks.  This document is for people interested in increasing the value and integrity of data and in assessing the potential impacts of policy decisions in terms of agriculture production and environmental outcomes.

This Excel document outlines all the Delta indicators, with their respective data points and data collection templates, as well as some reporting examples.

This Excel document is a questionnaire developed for the pilots conducted to test the Delta Indicators, it aimed to collect data points for most of the Delta Indicators as it was meant to collect only those data points that were not already collected by the piloting organisation through the existing M&E system.

Short presentation outlining the Delta project background, objectives, and activities.

This slide deck outlines a presentation of the Delta Project for the ICAC plenary in December 2019, entitled 'Building consensus on sustainability goals and measurements across agricultural commodities: the case of cotton and coffee'.

In this podcast, Jeffrey Neilson from the University of Sydney discusses the research report on the Evaluation of the Impacts of Sustainability Standards on Smallholder Coffee Farmers in Southern Sumatra, Indonesia published in 2019.

This slide deck provides an overview of the Good Practice, Better Finance project. 

This document provides an introduction to the Impact Alliance: Making Impact Happen project, followed by: Background on commodities and the need for impact incentives Outreach and promotional material Surveys, interviews and engagement Insights from surveys, interviews and engagement Translating interest into pilots

Research webinar with Peter Lund-Thomsen from Copenhagen Business School on the effects of certification on farmers’ incomes, workers’ conditions and environmental pollution on cotton farms in India and Pakistan and report from DIPI India baseline study.

In this podcast, Carlos de los Rios from COSA discusses the final research report from an impact evaluation on the Impacts of Certification on Small Coffee Farmers Western Kenya, 2014-2017. The report was published in 2019. ISEAL and its members are working together on the Demonstrating and Improving Poverty Impacts (DIPI) program, to understand the contribution that certification systems can make to poverty alleviation and pro-poor development. ISEAL commissioned an evaluation to identify whether and how certification contributes to improving farmer livelihoods.

The IPM Coalition under the umbrella of the ISEAL Alliance created “Pesticides & Alternatives”. The multi-lingual tool will support pest control with less negative environmental and human impact. The APP is targeted for auditors, decision-makers of farms, fields and forests. The link below will take users to the Apple Store to download the app for free.

In September and October 2021, we co-hosted a webinar series with Evidensia to take a deep dive into how and why the new Credibility Principles are important.

This webinar shares the intentions and key findings behind Kering’s and Textile Exchange’s report ‘A world beyond certification – A best practices guide for organic cotton trading models’ which provides insight on the subject.

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.

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.

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.

Experts from ISEAL, and ISEAL members discuss what our research is telling us about the reach, contribution and impacts of standards on smallholder farmers and what this means for future innovations and partnerships.

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.

The paper provides insights on growth trends and geographic presence of seven ISEAL member schemes that are leading global agricultural standards across seven commodities. We focus on trends and presence in producing and exporting countries where these schemes are adopted, with a specific interest in presence in low and lower-income classified countries.

This document summarises the findings from ASC's pilot project exploring remote monitoring within aquaculture certification programmes, over in-person monitoring.  Most aquaculture certification programs are reliant on in-person audits Audits occur just once a year due to cost and have been difficult to conduct because of COVID-19. Tracking improvements is time-consuming and costly with only in-person methods. Emerging technologies can address data gaps in smallholder shrimp farms and help grow farmer participation in ASC.