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.

Download the notes from the Inclusion & empowerment breakout session at the ISEAL Global Sustainability Symposium 2024.

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.

This briefing note captures broader insights from a project ISEAL implemented with support from the German International Development Agency GIZ in 2018-2019, in which we explored the implications and linkages between corporate due diligence processes and voluntary sustainability standards.

Sustainability standards from the mining, minerals and metals (MMM) sector are working together to increase the effectiveness, efficiency and impact of their systems, supported through the ISEAL Innovations Fund. 

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.

This case study is part of a series that looks at how credible VSS are responding to one of the most important legislative developments: the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which aims to prevent products associated with deforestation from being sold on the EU market. Featuring Rainforest Alliance and Fairtrade International, how credible VSS drive not only compliance but also meaningful transformation across the cocoa sector.

SCOPE is a geo-design tool that enables users to assess multiple outcomes related to commodity production and alternative policies including total production, water availability, water quality, greenhouse gas emissions, and land conversion. The tool allows for examining on-farm policy compliance and explore outcomes at local to landscape levels. This document presents how SCOPE can provide important information to certification stakeholders on how an area could perform against a standard (or is performing against a standard) at the local, landscape, or jurisdictional level.

Please use this form to submit comments and suggestions on particular sections of the revised guide for benchmarking sustainability systems.  Completed forms should be emailed to Maira Devisscher, Innovations Manager – maira@isealalliance.org by 15 December 2024.  

This methodology aims to support national commodity associations and other relevant public bodies to aggregate producer-level data using the Delta indicators to assess and report on the sustainability performance of the commodity’s production at country level.

Read about the Living Wage Working Group that ran in 2021 and 2022 for Certification and Auditing Systems.

This case study highlights how credible voluntary sustainability standards (VSS) support palm oil companies with regulatory requirements such as the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). Featuring the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), it explores how VSS enable traceability, ensure legal production, and promote smallholder inclusion - helping businesses build deforestation-and conversion-free (DCF) supply chains that go beyond compliance.

This document summarizes the consolidated learnings from the different pilots of the Delta indicators.

Small-scale fisheries are a critical source of employment and livelihoods for millions of coastal families and communities, although in many cases, employment is seasonal and alternative sources of income are required. Small-scale fisheries also contribute to local food and nutrition security through the supply of high protein fishery products. However, small-scale fisheries face considerable challenges that limit their potential to contribute to sustainable livelihoods. 

In 2022, CGIAR's HER+ initiative researchers partnered with ISEAL to explore how sustainability systems are able to contribute to advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment. Gender is a crosscutting theme in ISEAL’s strategic priority to power solutions to sustainability challenges.

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 Independent Evaluation Procedure for ISEAL Accreditation Members defines how organisations apply for, and maintain, ISEAL Accreditation Member status under ISEAL’s compliance programme.

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.