Description
Over the past several years, voluntary sustainability standards developed by the private sector, civil society organisations and other actors have experienced unprecedented growth. Accompanying this growth is the increasing need for information and transparency surrounding these standards. For example, producers and exporters in the developing world often lack information about voluntary standards’ market dynamics, certification and compliance processes, requirements, potential costs and benefits accruing from the adoption of sustainable production and trade practices. In addition, manufacturers, retailers and public procurement officials lack detailed information to include sustainability considerations into their purchasing decisions. The T4SD project will address these challenges by developing a web-based tool that centralises, organises and disseminates information on voluntary sustainability standards and related research results to strengthen the capacity of producers, exporters and buyers to participate in sustainable trade and production. Specifically, T4SD will aim to: - Integrate comprehensive, accessible, recent and comparable product specific information on voluntary sustainability standards. - Provide information on costs, benefits and social, economic and environmental effects brought by voluntary sustainability standards drawing on standard bodies’ data and from third parties’ research. - Allow information tailoring through customised interfaces addressing users’ specific needs, ensuring direct access to relevant information and intuitive web navigation system.