Download or read book Voluntary Sustainability Standards written by Ulrich Hoffmann and published by Peter Lang Us. This book was released on 2021 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sustainability standards, their systems, role and impact -- VSS at a crossroads -- Is there any future perspective for VSS and what might it look like?

Download or read book Voluntary Standard Systems written by Carsten Schmitz-Hoffmann and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-05-14 with total page 458 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Emerging to the forefront of sustainable production and consumption are a promising and rapidly evolving concept known as Voluntary Standard Systems (VSS). They encompass the three pillars of sustainability – social, environmental and economic aspects and consequently they can be considered as a tool, which makes sustainable development visible. Currently, they are becoming a significant element in international trade and in the promotion of sustainable development strategies, especially in the context of globalised markets and supply chains. This volume provides a comprehensive overview of the current VSS concepts: from their nature and functioning, to the future outlook for their development. It places VSS in the broader context of global development issues and challenges, including development policy and international sustainability commitments, progress towards achieving ‘green economy’ and meeting climate protection targets. The volume contains also a representative selection of case studies which demonstrate their wide range of application in different sectors of the economy.

Download or read book Sustainability Standards and Global Governance written by Archna Negi and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-07-02 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access book focuses on the issue of sustainability standards from the perspective of both global governance frameworks and emerging economies. It stems from the recognition that the accelerated pace of economic globalization has generated production and consumption patterns that are generating sustainability concerns. Sustainability standards (and regulations) are increasingly being used in a bid to make global consumption and production more sustainable. Given the dense inter-connectedness of economic affairs globally, the use of sustainability standards has become a concern of global governance, who face the challenge of achieving a balance between the use of standards for genuine sustainability objectives, and not allowing them to turn into instruments of protectionism or coercion.The emerging economies, given their increasing engagement with the global economy, are most impacted by the use of sustainability standards. The emphasis of ‘emerging economies’ in this book is retained both by using case studies from these economies and by collating perceptions and assessments of those located in these economies. The case studies included span sectors such as palm oil, forestry, food quality, vehicular emissions and water standards, and address the problems unique to the emerging economies, including capacity building for compliance with standards, adapting international standards in domestic contexts and addressing the exclusion of small and medium enterprises etc. Complex interfaces and dynamics of a global nature are not limited to the thematic of this book but also extend to the process through which it was written. This book brings together insights from developed as well as emerging economies (Germany, India, Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, Pakistan, Mexico and China). It also brings together scholars and practitioners to jointly ponder upon the conceptual aspects of the global frameworks for sustainability standards. This book is a very useful resource for researchers and practitioners alike, and provides valuable insights for policy makers as well.

Download or read book Voluntary Sustainability Standards written by Ulrich Hoffmann and published by Peter Lang Incorporated, International Academic Publishers. This book was released on 2021 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: List of Figures, Tables and Boxes - Preface - Acknowledgements - Introduction - Sustainability Standards, Their Systems, Role and Impact - VSS at a Crossroads - Is There Any Future Perspective for VSS and What Might It Look Like? - List of Acronyms - Explanations of Some Technical Terms - References - Index.

Download or read book Business Responsibility and Sustainability in India written by Bimal Arora and published by Springer. This book was released on 2019-05-28 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On the backdrop of the institutionalisation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability, and the emergence of multi-stakeholder-driven voluntary regulation, this timely collection places special emphasis on India and explores its international voluntary sustainability standards. The authors analyse the adoption and implementation of voluntary governance initiatives across a range of industries, offering insightful sectoral discussion and evaluation of voluntary sustainability standards as forms of transnational private regulation. This book will be of interest to anyone researching CSR, sustainability and supply chain management in emerging markets.

Download or read book Better Trade for Sustainable Development written by Axel Marx and published by . This book was released on 2021-12-09 with total page 61 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development defines international trade as "an engine for inclusive economic growth and poverty reduction, [that] contributes to the promotion of sustainable development".

Download or read book Voluntary Sustainability Standards in International Trade written by United Nations Publications and published by . This book was released on 2023-05-08 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This handbook provides an introduction to Voluntary Sustainability Standards as instruments to make international trade more sustainable. Chapter 1 sets out to describe what VSS are, how they have emerged and how they have evolved. Chapter 2 delves deeper into how VSS work to achieve sustainability goals. Chapter 3 takes stock of the current literature and evidence on the effectiveness of VSS. Chapter 4 turns attention to the use of VSS by other trade-related policy instruments.

Download or read book Hard Choices Soft Law written by John J. Kirton and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-03-02 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An important read for academics and policy-makers alike, Hard Choices, Soft Law asserts that voluntary standards, or 'soft' law, are an important supplement to international law in a number of areas. This key work firstly outlines the approach taken to combining soft and hard law and trade, environment and labour values in the WTO and NAFTA, and in the prospective Millennium Round. Then, using the forestry sector - a realm where formal international law remains largely absent - the book provides a detailed examination of the role of soft law in action. It demonstrates how soft and hard law can be combined to promote trade, environmental and social cohesion, in ways that also permit sustainable development. The book presents a wealth of knowledge from a range of contributors familiar with the work of the G7/G8, the OECD, the Biodiversity Convention and the Codex Alimentarius.

Download or read book Selling Sustainability Short written by Janina Grabs and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-05-14 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Can private standards bring about more sustainable production practices? This question is of interest to conscientious consumers, academics studying the effectiveness of private regulation, and corporate social responsibility practitioners alike. Grabs provides an answer by combining an impact evaluation of 1,900 farmers with rich qualitative evidence from the coffee sectors of Honduras, Colombia and Costa Rica. Identifying an institutional design dilemma that private sustainability standards encounter as they scale up, this book shows how this dilemma plays out in the coffee industry. It highlights how the erosion of price premiums and the adaptation to buyers' preferences have curtailed standards' effectiveness in promoting sustainable practices that create economic opportunity costs for farmers, such as agroforestry or agroecology. It also provides a voice for coffee producers and value chain members to explain why the current system is failing in its mission to provide environmental, social, and economic co-benefits, and what changes are necessary to do better.

Download or read book Fostering Green Exports Through Voluntary Sustainability Standards written by Conférence des Nations Unies sur le commerce et le développement and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Reflecting on Sustainability Standards written by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 21 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper summarizes the Voluntary Sustainability Standards' (VSS) Academic Advisory Council Roundtables. The roundtables aimed to foster the debate on the possibilities and limitations of sustainability standards as tools to environmental, social and economic sustainability. They were jointly organized by the United Nations Forum on Sustainability Standards (UNFSS) and EVIDENSIA, in collaboration with the KU Leuven Center for Global Governance. This paper summarizes the discussions and outcomes of the three roundtable discussions. It brings different perspectives on VSS together which can inform and contribute to a comprehensive understanding of VSS effectiveness through GVCs. Through this paper, the “effectiveness” of VSS is defined along multiple dimensions, all of which are covered and assessed. A first dimension, goal-attainment effectiveness, focuses on the impact of VSS on a range of social, economic and environmental indicators. A second dimension, process effectiveness, analyses the degree to which VSS are adopted by economic operators and the drivers for adoption. A third dimension, constitutive effectiveness, focuses on the degree to which VSS change the overall approach of actors involved in the policy process towards sustainability, i.e., the degree to which their theories of change are used more widely. VSS role on international trade is also debated and discussed.

Download or read book Better Trade for Sustainable Development written by and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Handbook on Global Value Chains written by Stefano Ponte and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2019 with total page 640 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Global value chains (GVCs) are a key feature of the global economy in the 21st century. They show how international investment and trade create cross-border production networks that link countries, firms and workers around the globe. This Handbook describes how GVCs arise and vary across industries and countries, and how they have evolved over time in response to economic and political forces. With chapters written by leading interdisciplinary scholars, the Handbook unpacks the key concepts of GVC governance and upgrading, and explores policy implications for advanced and developing economies alike. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial}

Download or read book Fostering Green Exports through Voluntary Sustainability Standards written by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and published by United Nations. This book was released on 2020-05-19 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals set the world on the path of sustainable development and give international trade an important role to play in this journey: “International trade is an engine for inclusive economic growth and poverty reduction, [which] contributes to the promotion of sustainable development” (Paragraph 68, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development) How can international trade become a driving force for a development as sustainable as it is inclusive, ensuring that no one is left behind? How can it respond to the growing demand for production, exchange and consumption patterns that are both environmentally and socially sustainable, as well as economically profitable? To help developing countries build their capacity to achieve sustainable and inclusive growth through trade, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has examined ways for fostering green exports via the exploitation of voluntary sustainability standards (VSS). VSS are norms and standards to ensure that a product is produced, processed or transported sustainably in terms of, e.g. respect for human rights, decent working conditions, gender equality or environmental protection, with a view to achieving environmental, social and economic objectives. Certification is one of the many VSS tools used by producers and organic standard is the most widely applied VSS in the agricultural sector. To this end, UNCTAD has worked with three countries in the Asia-Pacific Region (Lao PDR, the Philippines and Vanuatu) and developed an approach, which is ready-to-use, streamlined and adaptable to local specificities.This portfolio presents the main outcomes of this development account project, including the approach and tools developed in its framework:• An introduction to green exports and VSS: opportunities and challenges for developing countries • UNCTAD’s approach and tools to build countries’ capacity to foster green exports through VSS • The country case study of Vanuatu • The country case study of the Philippines • The country case study of Lao People’s Democratic Republic

Download or read book International Trade Investment and the Sustainable Development Goals written by Cosimo Beverelli and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-10 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A multi-disciplinary investigation of how economic globalization can help achieve the UN's 2030 Agenda, exploring trade-offs among the Goals.

Download or read book Sustainability Standards and Instruments written by Alan S. Gutterman and published by Business Expert Press. This book was released on 2021-01-20 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book serves as an introduction to sustainability standards and instruments and includes chapters on initiatives of governmental and intergovernmental bodies, sectoral CSR commitments, CSR-related reporting and management standards, and securities exchanges and regulators. It is becoming increasingly clear that firms can contribute to their own wealth and to overall societal wealth by considering the effect they have on the world at large when making decisions and take operational actions to execute their strategies. All of this has led to growing interest in “corporate social responsibility,” or “CSR,” which has been described as the way that firms integrate social, environmental, and economic concerns into their values, culture, decision making, strategy, and operations in a transparent and accountable manner and thereby establish better practices within the firm, create wealth, and improve society. The commitments and activities associated with any CSR initiative should begin with compliance with laws and regulations promulgated by the governmental entities have jurisdiction over the firm’s activities; however, CSR extends well “beyond the law” to include important subjects as to which the law has not been able to keep. As a result, voluntary corporate responsibility standards developed from a variety of sources have emerged to fill the gap. This book serves as an introduction to sustainability standards and instruments and includes chapters on initiatives of governmental and intergovernmental bodies, sectoral CSR commitments, CSR-related reporting and management standards, and securities exchanges and regulators.

Download or read book Certifiably Sustainable written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2010-06-17 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Consumption of goods and services represents a growing share of global economic activity. In the United States, consumption accounts for more than two-thirds of gross domestic product. This trend of increasing consumption has brought with it negative consequences for the environment and human well-being. Global demand for energy, food, and all manner of goods is on the rise, putting strains on the natural and human capital required to produce them. Extractive industries and production processes are prominent causes of species endangerment. Modern economies are underpinned by substantial energy consumption, a primary contributor to the current climate crisis. Expanding international trade has led to many economic opportunities, but has also contributed to unfair labor practices and wealth disparities. While certain processes have improved or become more efficient, and certain practices have been outlawed or amended, the sheer scale of global consumption and its attendant impacts continue to be major challenges we face in the transition to sustainability. Third-party certification systems have emerged over the last 15 years as a tool with some promise. There has been anecdotal evidence of success, but to date the overall impact of certified goods and services has been small. Moreover, definitions of sustainable vary across sectors and markets, and rigorous assessments of these programs have been few and far between. In order to take a step in learning from this field of practice, the National Academies' Science and Technology for Sustainability Program held a workshop to illuminate the decision making process of those who purchase and produce certified goods and services. It was also intended to help clarify the scope and limitations of the scientific knowledge that might contribute to the economic success of certified products. The workshop, summarized in this volume, involved presentations and discussions with approximately 40 invited experts from academia, business, government, and nongovernmental organizations.