Understanding Voluntary Sustainability Standards
A Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats Analysis
Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) have emerged as key governance tools in global value chains and provide an avenue for enabling sustainable production and consumption practices. The rapid growth in the number of VSS over the last few decades has prompted a consequent growth in the number of studies around VSS. While extant literature focusses on a diverse set of topics centred around VSS, there is no one study that presents the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) of VSS. Given the growing presence of VSS, it becomes important to understand these dimensions related to VSS. This report therefore provides a succinct SWOT analysis of VSS. The report presents analyses and derives results from the work of key researchers and practitioners in the field of VSS and distils conclusions to effectively understand the use of VSS, their potential and their interactions with several upcoming trade regulations.
