Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBLinfo.suisse@fibl.org, www.fibl.org

Mapping the Growing Sector of Voluntary Sustainability Standards:Current State and Trends

February 14, 2018

Nuremberg, GermanyBIOFACH 2018Julia Lernoud and Helga Willer

Funded by

Partners

• Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL)

• International Trade Centre (ITC)

• International Institute for Sustainable Development

• The Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO

Supporter

Selected VSS

• 4C (Global Coffee Platform)

• Better Cotton Initiative (BCI)

• Bonsucro

• Cotton Made in Africa

• Fairtrade International

• Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)

• GLOBALG.A.P.

• IFOAM – Organics International

• Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC)

• ProTerra Foundation

• Rainforest Alliance/Sustainable Agriculture Network

• Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)

• Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS)

• UTZ

3

Selected commodities

• Bananas• Cocoa• Coffee• Cotton• Oil palm• Soybeans• Sugarcane• Tea • Forestry

4

Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) area worldwide and selected commoditiesSource: FiBL-IISD-ITC survey 2017: 4C 2016; Better Cotton Initiative 2017; Bonsucro 2016; Cotton Made in Africa 2016; Fairtrade International 2017; GLOBALG.A.P. 2016; FiBL survey 2017; ProTerra Foundation 2016; Rainforest Alliance/SAN 2016; Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil 2016; Round Table for Responsible Soy 2016; UTZ 2016

5

0 1 2 3 4

RTRS

Bonsucro

CmiA

4C

RA/SAN

ProTerra

UTZ

Organic

BCI

Fairtrade

RSPO

Million hectares

Total harvested area certified for selected crops per VSS 2015

Bananas Cocoa Coffee CottonOil palm Soybeans Sugarcane Tea

0.7

0.9

1.0

1.6

1.8

2.1

2.2

2.5

2.9

3.1

3.5

50.3

0 20 40 60

RTRS

Bonsucro

CmiA

4C

ProTerra

UTZ

BCI

Fairtrade

RA/SAN

Global GAP

RSPO

Organic

Million hectares

Total certified area per VSS 2015

CocoaOther

Rainforest Alliance

Cocoa area share of total VSS area 2015Source: FiBL-IISD-ITC survey 2017: Fairtrade International 2017; FiBL survey 2017; Rainforest Alliance/SAN 2016; UTZ 2016

CocoaOther

Fairtrade InternationalCocoa

Other

Organic

CocoaOther

UTZ

ORGANIC

CoffeeOther

Rainforest Alliance

Coffee area share of total VSS area 2015Source: FiBL-IISD-ITC survey 2017: Fairtrade International 2017; FiBL survey 2017; Rainforest Alliance/SAN 2016; UTZ 2016

CoffeeOther

Fairtrade InternationalCoffee

Other

Organic

CoffeeOther

UTZ

ORGANIC

Africa

Latin America

Asia

Fairtrade International

Africa

Latin America

Asia

UTZ

Latin America

Africa

Other

Organic

Africa

Latin America

Asia

Rainforest Alliance/SAN

Distribution of the cocoa area by region 2015Source: Fairtrade International 2017; FiBL survey 2017; Rainforest Alliance/SAN 2016; UTZ 2016

Africa

Asia

Fairtrade International

Africa

Asia

Latin America

UTZ

Asia

Other

Organic

Africa

Asia

Europe

Latin America

Rainforest Alliance/SAN

Distribution of the tea area by region 2015Source: Fairtrade International 2017; FiBL survey 2017; Rainforest Alliance/SAN 2016; UTZ 2016

ORGANIC

ORGANIC

1'59

4

1'29

7

798

405 54

9

0

500

1'000

1'500

2'000

4C Fairtrade Organic Rainforest Alliance/SAN UTZ

Tho

usan

d he

ctar

es

Coffee: Development of the area by VSS 2008-2015Source: 4C 2016; Fairtrade International 2017; FiBL survey 2017; Rainforest Alliance/SAN 2016; UTZ 2016

2008 2009 2010 20112012 2013 2014 2015

8

0

1'000'000

2'000'000

3'000'000

4'000'000

5'000'000

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Hec

tare

s

Coffee: Range of coffee area (minimum/maximum/average) 2008-2015Source: FiBL-IISD-ITC survey 2017

Max Min Average44.3%

34.5%

24.8%

570

268

738

1'53

0

0

500

1'000

1'500

2'000

Fairtrade Organic Rainforest Alliance/SAN UTZ

Tho

usan

d he

ctar

es

Cocoa: Development of the area by VSS 2008-2015Source: Fairtrade International 2017; FiBL survey 2017; Rainforest Alliance/SAN 2016; UTZ 2016

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

9

0

500'000

1'000'000

1'500'000

2'000'000

2'500'000

3'000'000

3'500'000

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Hec

tare

s

Cocoa: Range of cocoa area (minimum/maximum/average) 2008-2015Source: FiBL-IISD-ITC survey 2017

Max Min Average29.8%

23.0%

16.2%

The State of Sustainable Markets 2017Statistics and Emerging Trends

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• Julia Lernoud, Jason Potts, Gregory Sampson, Salvador Garibay, Matthew Lynch, Vivek Voora, Helga Willer and Joseph Wozniak (2017), The State of Sustainable Markets –Statistics and Emerging Trends 2017. ITC, Geneva.

• http://www.intracen.org/publication/The-State-of-Sustainable-Markets-2017-Statistics-and-Emerging-Trends/

• The 2018 edition of “The State of Sustainable Markets” will be launched at the 2018 ISEAL Conference, Sao Pablo, May 2018

Conclusions

• All standards in the report continue to show growth of total certified area, albeit not at the same pace as in the past.

• There is a dominance of single-sector standards in some sectors, like 4C in coffee or BCI in cotton.

• Multiple certification takes place in almost all of the selected products, which makes it challenging to report a global total for the given product.

• Market data: retail sales and international trade data is not available for most of the VSS – currently it is only available for organic and Fairtrade.

• Better data will improve our understanding of the state of sustainable markets, and better reporting will help fill out the picture of sustainable supply chains.

• The labels covered in this report focus on a small range of products, and organic covers almost the whole product range. Currently, organic is the largest label in terms of number of producers, certified area, and retail sales value

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