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.

This paper discusses how voluntary sustainability standards and certification schemes can play an important role in this smart mix, in particular in terms of supporting supply chain regulation on deforestation.

Download below the PowerPoint presentation for the Practicalities of EU Deforestation  Regulation (EUDR) Implementation breakfast session  at the ISEAL Global Sustainability Symposium 2024

This document directs public and private sector stakeholders on deriving sustainability information and messages from the data collected on agricultural commodities production.

Between 29 September and 5 October 2021, Helvetas conducted a stakeholder consultation of the project "Sustainable Cocoa Landscapes in San Martin". The consultation was carried out through face-to-face workshops in the different districts of the province. This resulted in the prioritization of social issues to be taken forward by the project. 

You can view the the detailed programme of the event, featuring speakers and session descriptions, below.               

This infographic provides a summary on boosting sustainability practice and performance at the landscape level, through Good Water Stewardship project. 

This document summarises the learning from Rainforest Alliance's Hybrid Community-Based Monitoring pilot project. The goal of this 3-year project was to design and develop a Hybrid Community-based Monitoring System (HCMS) that combines GPS and remote sensing with on-the-ground data from the key landscape stakeholders for data management and reporting at a landscape level.

An Innovations Fund-supported project led by The Copper Mark, carried out between 2023 and 2024, provided a greater understanding of the reality of artisanal and small-scale copper mining (ASCM) in Peru. The report and infographic available to download here are designed to provide useful insights, to generate an open dialogue between all stakeholders of the copper value chain within the framework of sustainable development. 

In an Innovations Fund supported project from September 2023-November 2024, sought to support companies to assess and address human rights risks and impacts in the botanicals sector, and jumpstart scheme-level improvements. Through a gap assessment, UEBT identified points for improvement in their existing frameworks. Training materials developed were used to build internal capacity, and within companies in Turkey’s high-risk supply chains.

In an Innovations Fund supported project from September 2023 to February 2024, Marin Trust carried out a comprehensive impact evaluation to assess whether their activities lead to improved or protected environmental parameters. It focused on the synergies, challenges and factors driving improvement between MarinTrust-certified and MarinTrust Improver Programme factories.

This page contains the final project outputs of the Expanding the Blueprint tool project, run by Sustainable Agriculture Network from September 2023-May 2024.

In a project supported by the Innovations Fund from October 2023-March 2025, Better Cotton explored existing principles for GHG data collection, accounting and reporting in agricultural commodity production and how this can be applied inter-operably and inclusively.Discover outputs from this project below.

The Smart Assurance project supported by the ISEAL Innovations Fund until July 2024 developed and tested a new type of oversight process that combines the use of satellite data, analytical methods, and ground verification supported by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs or drones) with assessment practices to provide enhanced oversight both at scale and with a new level of granularity.

A public summary explaining the need for the Infrastructure Sustainability Intelligence Tool (ISIT), the value it brings to infrastructure stakeholders, and its methodology.  ISIT was developed by GIB as part of a project supported by the ISEAL Innovations Fund.

In 2013, ISEAL launched the Credibility Principles, which provide an international reference for defining the foundations of credible practices for sustainability standards. Since mid-May 2020, we are leading consultations that will expand the scope of the Credibility Principles beyond sustainability standards to a wider range of systems, such as data-based and landscape-based approaches as well as update the scope of the Credibility Principles to reflect current and future trends affecting standards and similar systems.

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.

The ISEAL Code of Good Practice for Sustainability Systems (‘the ISEAL Code’) provides a globally recognised framework that outlines the core components of a credible sustainability system and how they fit together. More than 200 people attended the launch webinar, including representatives from sustainability systems, NGOs, businesses, government, consultants and researchers.

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.