Making Sustainable Supply Chains a Reality
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MAKING SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAINS A REALITY Trade for Sustainable Development Street address: ITC 54-56, rue de Montbrillant 1202 Geneva, Switzerland Postal address: ITC Palais des Nations 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland Telephone: +41-22 730 0111 Fax: +41-22 733 4439 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: http://www.intracen.org The International Trade Centre (ITC) is the joint agency of the World Trade Organization and the United Nations. © International Trade Centre 2015 Foreword from ITC Executive Director “Our sustainability standards programme provides all who are part of interna- tional supply chains with a way to navigate the constantly moving standards landscape, at a time when supply chains are increasingly complex.” Sustainable development matters to everyone. It is at the National and international governments are moving ahead Harmonization is the third principle. We all need to build core of International Trade Centre’s mission. That is why six with sustainable public procurement commitments as are on existing resources and methodologies in a collaborative years ago we began the Trade for Sustainable Development many multinational corporations. These commitments, way to avoid re-inventing the wheel, duplicating audits or Programme (T4SD), to promote sustainable supply chains however, could entail the risk of being lost in the web of creating overlapping codes, definitions, and initiatives that as a means to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) overlapping sustainability standards, codes, and sourcing serve the same purpose. in developing countries add value to their products and policies. services. The final principle is about aligning work and activities to Certification costs are increasing and there is a danger that the United Nations Post-2015 Development Agenda – the Since then, the sustainability “landscape” has become a market inefficiencies could occur. On the other hand, the “Sustainable Development Goals”. more challenging one. There is a proliferation of standards, private or voluntary nature of these initiatives can also be codes of conduct and other sustainability initiatives which a strength, fostering innovation and a more agile response ITC’s programme contributes to making sure these may create additional challenges, and sometimes burdens to sustainability imperatives such as climate change and conditions are in place through increased transparency, on consumers, multinationals, NGOs, governments, and workers’ rights. institutional capacity building for compliance and ultimately particularly SMEs in the developing world. by fostering convergence. The “Trade for Sustainable Development Principles” To be sure, these sustainability initiatives can provide new are a set of core values that are intended to support Our expectation is that our partners will support these trade opportunities, improve product quality, mitigate more equitable and impactful trade. The principles were T4SD principles and conduct their activities in line with environmental degradation, improve compliance with launched at the first ITC Trade for Sustainable Development them. I hope you will find the following information useful social and labour standards, and boost the overall Forum in October 2014. in understanding the full breadth of the T4SD programme competitiveness of SME exporters. But these benefits will and how these principles can be an integral part of the only be fully realized if there is investment of financial and The first principle isSustainability . We expect organizations sustainable development discourse. technical resources to identify, understand and meet these to support and promote sustainable trade practices with standards. This is often more difficult for small producers in regards to social, environmental, economic, management, We look forward to working with you. the developing world. quality and ethics issues. These are all components of the production, processing and trading of goods and services. This investment is not just an option; it is a major component of business. To meet the growing demand for The second principle is Transparency. Organizations shall goods and services that are framed by these sustainability also contribute to clarity through demonstrating openness Arancha González parameters, there is a need to take action to ensure they to sharing good practices, trust and inclusiveness at all are a critical part of the business plan of any SME. levels. Executive Director, International Trade Centre THE ITC TRADE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME IS CENTRED AROUND A SET OF FOUR CORE PRINCIPLES SUSTAINABLE SUSTAINABILITY TRANSPARENCY HARMONIZATION DEVELOPMENT GOALS Support and promote Contribute to efficiency in Build on existing resources Act in alignment to the United sustainable trade practices, global supply chains by clear and methodologies with a Nations Post-2015 Development with regards to social, demonstration of openness collaborative approach avoiding Agenda, which builds upon the environmental, economic and to sharing good practices, to duplication that may provoke Millennium Development Goals, management, quality and foster transparency, trust and proliferation of standards, with a view to developing a set of ethics issues at stake in the inclusiveness at all levels of multiplication of audits or global sustainable development production, processing and global supply chains. assessment methodologies. goals. trading of goods and services. The Trade for Sustainable Development Principles ensure full alignment with the United Nations Post-2015 Development Agenda. By adhering to the Principles, companies and institutions working with our pro- gramme are expected to embrace and enact a set of core values to support sustainable trade. We invite you to become a signatory today by completing the Letter of Endorsement of the T4SD Principles (http://ow.ly/IAB2O). 1 PROGRAMME COMPONENTS Et, iliquaecea sit dolectes aut illenisquam re, voluptatus eum quatem apereheniet, omnihil isquae volo con pliatem. Tius, qui berum qui corehendi qui aborporem recepedit fugia sandis a ne doluptiam apic torerisIhic torioreicab ilit, vel molorae ne nis et, accaborum elitas ex et alicide bistione conem experna tiore. G L T4SD GLOBAL DATABASE PAGE 05-06 O B A L STANDARDS MAP PAGE 07-08 P U B PAGE 09-10 L SUSTAINABILITY MARKETPLACE I C G SUSTAINABILITYXCHANGE PAGE 11-12 O O D CAPACITY BUILDING & RESEARCH PAGE 13-14 SPECIAL PROJECTS PAGE 15-18 MAKING SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAINS A REALITY 2 OVERVIEW The Trade for Sustainable Development programme is a globally recognized, credible and trusted initiative which serves as the central repository and dissemination platform on sustainability standards T4SD GLOBAL DATABASE STANDARDS MAP SUSTAINABILITY MARKETPLACE Establishing a common language to reference Shedding light on standards initiatives through Connecting actors along sustainable supply standard initiatives transparency chains Voluntary standards, codes of conduct, sustainability Information collected, reviewed and quality controlled Standards Map enables farmers, producers and initiatives and best practices addressing issues related to on standards initiatives is freely accessible in an online, manufacturers to self-assess themselves against the environmental protection, work and labour rights, quality interactive and user-friendly platform called Standards requirements set by standards applicable to their context. and food safety, or ethics have grown exponentially over Map. Standards Map is part of ITC’s suite of Market the past decade. Analysis Tools which counts over 450’000 registered users. The assessment takes the form of an online questionnaire. At the end of the assessment, a diagnostic report provides Actors along international supply chains – consumers, Practitioners from public and private institutions, small and a detailed analysis of areas needing improvement. producers, buyers and policy makers – face challenges medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and multinationals can understanding and keeping track with standards and use the Standards Map to identify, review and compare This report can be shared directly online with partners, sustainability requirements. information on over 170 standards initiatives, applicable to certification bodies or other interested parties. over 80 sectors and 180 countries. The core component of the T4SD programme is a credible, A new module, the Sustainability Marketplace, will be central, and neutral repository for standards information Standards Map enables the review of standard initiatives’ added to Standards Map during the third quarter of 2015. which provides transparency and enables comparability process and sustainability requirements in tables, charts between standards initiatives’ processes and and graphical format. The Sustainability Marketplace will enable farmers, requirements. All information is updated and reviewed processors and manufacturers to share their diagnostic yearly by each respective standard-setting organization, The analysis can be made across 1000 criteria which reports with buyers looking to source sustainable or by individual experts who have been designated by the are broken up in two main categories, processes and products and services. A component of the Sustainability organization to fulfill the role of data reviewer. requirements. The “Standard Processes” cover information Marketplace will also be made accessible to standard pertaining to standards audits, claims and labelling, organizations, enabling them to analyse and generate