Voluntary sustainability standards

VSS have emerged as important tools for governing global value chains (GVCs) and addressing related sustainability concerns (Marx and Depoorter, 2022). They are increasingly seen as key transnational governance instruments to pursue sustainable development, as they aim to ensure that products and production processes comply with a set of social, economic and/or environmental requirements in order to make global production more sustainable. VSS are actively engaged in a wide range of sectors, from agriculture and forestry to minerals and electronics. However, they are most widely used in tropical agricultural commodity sectors, including bananas, cocoa, coffee, cotton, palm oil, soy, sugarcane and tea, which are mostly produced in and exported from developing countries.

Sustainable Development Goals:

Zero Hunger

Decent Work and Economic Growth

Responsible Consumption and Production