This briefing paper complements ISEAL’s Recommendations, released in November 2022, which focus on two main areas of legislative reform for the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD):

This brochure presents a list of critical elements to ensure that comparisons and benchmarking between standards systems are credible

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 Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) was established in 2006, through a multi-stakeholder collaboration involving labour groups, communities, purchasing and mining companies and NGOs. Indigenous Rights Holders IRMA works towards protecting people and the environment directly affected by mining.

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.

Women’s labour and expertise underpins the cocoa and coffee sectors, with women representing 40%-70% of the workforce. Yet, their contribution is often hidden and undervalued. Women face challenges in accessing productive resources, including extension and advisory services, credit and land. Social norms result in high labour and time burdens for women while limiting their participation in decision-making in households, organisations and communities.

Low wages persist in the banana sector, and workers struggle to make a decent living. Even in contexts of certified value chains, workers can experience a gap between their earnings and living wage benchmarks. In 2023, Fairtrade International launched three mechanisms to contribute to closing living wage gaps for banana workers (see page 3 for details). In addition, the Fairtrade Minimum Price and Fairtrade Premium benefit both farmers and workers. Together, these tools aim to increase incomes for banana producers and workers in certified value chains.

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:

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.

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.

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.

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.

Small-scale fishers in Indonesia face structural barriers which limit their participation in the fisheries sector, including limited access to technology, invisibility in data and policy making and marginalisation in decision-making. Although Indonesia is the second largest aquaculture and capture fisheries producing country in the world (after China) and 80% of its fishing industry depend on small-scale fisheries, fishers represent 25% of people who live below the poverty line in Indonesia.

This guidance developed by ISEAL on Chain of Custody (CoC) System is a reference document for sustainability standards systems that complements ISEAL's Sustainability Claims Good Practice Guide.

The context in which sustainability systems operate significantly influences the scale, depth and durability of their impacts. This is an important consideration when designing new strategies to improve sustainability performance. To provide support in this area, we have developed the following resources:

This is a conceptual framework which outlines the justification and process for the development of the ISEAL Common Core Indicators. This work began as part of ISEAL's Developing and Improving Poverty Impacts project (DIPI).

With the final trilogue on the Green Claims Directive now postponed to 23 June, ISEAL, together with ECOCERT, FTAO, IFOAM Organics Europe, and TIC Council, has issued a joint statement urging EU policymakers to preserve the ambition and integrity of this vital legislation.

The Empowering Consumers Directive, Directive (EU) 2024/825, (ECD) marks a significant development in EU consumer and sustainability policy, aiming to enhance the credibility of environmental claims and strengthen consumer protection against greenwashing. Among its key innovations, the Directive sets requirements for how sustainability labels are used in the EU market, specifically restricting their use unless backed by credible certification schemes or developed by public authorities.
 

For an overview of clause and glossary changes between v1.0 and v1.1 of the ISEAL Code of Good Practice for Sustainability Systems, see the excel file or word document below. 

Use this template to complete your Compliance Checklist for the ISEAL Assurance Code of Good Practice Version 2.0

Use this template to complete your Compliance Checklist for the ISEAL Standard-Setting Code of Good Practice Version 6.0

Use this template to complete your Compliance Checklist for the ISEAL Impacts Code of Good Practice Version 2.0

ISEAL Board and Committee members and ISEAL staff should conduct themselves at all times in accordance with good professional judgement for the benefit of ISEAL and in such manner as to not create a conflict of interest or appearance of such conflict.