Supported by the Walmart Foundation, ISEAL’s new 2.5-year project will work with sustainability systems and landscape initiatives to strengthen the use and recognition of credible sustainability data. It will help meet the growing demand for trusted sustainability information from companies, investors and regulators while delivering greater value for producers and workers across supply chains.

As sustainability regulation, due diligence and market expectations evolve, companies increasingly need trusted sustainability information to support reporting and decision-making. Sustainability systems and landscape initiatives already generate valuable data, but there is an opportunity to improve how it is measured, used and communicated, making it more accessible and usable.

Through this project, ISEAL will work with sustainability systems and landscape initiatives to strengthen their recognition within climate and nature frameworks by improving the governance, assurance and interoperability of sustainability data. This will help sustainability systems meet the expectations of climate and nature frameworks while continuing to deliver positive outcomes for people and nature.

Strengthening landscape initiatives

Investment in and engagement with jurisdictional and landscape initiatives is increasing as market actors recognise the benefits of bringing stakeholders together to address sustainability risks and drive improvements at scale. Landscape initiatives are exploring how best to measure their impact across a range of sustainability issues. Credible monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) data covering these issues will help landscape initiatives attract funding by providing evidence of positive outcomes for nature and people.

More mature landscape initiatives are already making progress in measuring key sustainability issues such as GHG emissions, water, biodiversity loss, deforestation and land use change. To build on this progress, ISEAL is working with its network of landscape and jurisdictional practitioners to produce a series of measurement papers that set out credible approaches to monitoring, reporting and verifying data across diverse sustainability topics.

In parallel, we are developing good practice guidance on governance models for landscape and jurisdictional initiatives. By developing and consulting on these resources, we aim to enhance the evidence and investment case for companies and investors.

Improving the efficiency and effectiveness of sustainability systems

Certification systems have been a proven tool for catalysing and rewarding better production practices across supply chains, but as market expectations shift, market actors are seeking performance and risk data while producing enterprises face mounting pressures to provide data beyond what certification schemes have traditionally gathered.

This creates an opportunity for sustainability systems to reimagine how assurance and data are used together, driving efficiency, meeting market needs and delivering greater value for upstream and downstream actors. To help certification systems keep pace and continue to deliver impact for people and nature, this workstream focuses on embedding data-driven decision-making into assurance processes, enabling reporting-ready GHG measurement, and integrating controls into mass balance chain of custody systems.

Strengthening data-driven assurance

Data-driven assurance offers two key benefits: better insight into how to improve assurance system design, and the ability to target assurance activities to the areas that need it most. Given rapid advances in technology and data analytics, sustainability systems have opportunities to further enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of their systems. ISEAL will support sustainability systems to integrate greater digitalisation, advanced data analytics and risk-based approaches. We will also publish a range of public resources, including an update to our 2015 Smart Data report.

Enabling reporting-ready GHG measurement  

The climate accounting and reporting ecosystem is maturing, with the introduction of new standards like the GHG Protocol’s Land Sector Removals Standard (LSRS), and increasingly mandatory obligations for companies to report and disclose their emissions footprint in frameworks like CSRD and IFRS.

Sustainability systems already collect much of the data needed for corporate GHG reporting and provide traceability systems that can transfer GHG attributes through complex supply chains. However, using this information for corporate reporting requires intentional design and alignment with GHG accounting standards.

ISEAL has established an LSRS learning group to support ISEAL Community Members to better align with the LSRS, and to enable downstream companies to credibly report low-emission certified volumes in the GHG inventory. The group will produce case studies, support shared learning, and identify opportunities to drive upstream value through the collection of GHG data.

Adapting mass balance approaches to meet changing market needs

The changing expectations for corporate due diligence have shone a spotlight on traceability models, particularly the mass balance chain of custody approach. Several sustainability systems have already implemented controls on the non-certified volumes entering the mix, to manage for deforestation risk and illegally produced materials entering international supply chains.

In response to growing interest in the controlled mass balance model, we have set up a mass balance learning group, which is exploring how the chain of custody model can be adapted to better support changing market needs around due diligence and GHG accounting. The group will explore how controlled mass balance approaches can be introduced and scaled in sustainability systems through peer learning and exchange.

Strengthening recognition in climate and nature frameworks

As the corporate reporting and disclosure ecosystem continues to mature, there is growing interest in the role and recognition of market instruments and landscape-level investment. ISEAL actively supports opportunities to strengthen alignment and interoperability between leading frameworks and credible sustainability initiatives. We are engaging with climate and nature frameworks with the goal of ensuring a clear pathway for companies to use and reference sustainability systems and landscape approaches in their corporate reporting.