Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) have since long been used and referred to in the context of the evolving global sustainability and development agenda(s), such as the 1992 Rio Earth Summit's Agenda 21 or the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) introduced in 2000. Discussions on the instrumental value of VSS in contributing to global development, however, have gained new ground since the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015 (UN GA, 2015). More and more VSS schemes and organisations refer to the SDGs in their official communications, 1 UN reports point to potential linkages, 2 and while VSS are not explicitly mentioned in the 17 SDGs, 169 targets and 244 indicators, they have made their way into (sub)national SDG implementation strategies. The 2016 Sustainability Strategy of the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia, for instance, includes a target to increase the market share of products labelled as organic (MKULNV, 2016, p. 37). 3 Can VSS, or in other words, voluntary sets of "criteria defining good social and environmental practices in an industry or product" (ISEAL, 2015), contribute to the implementation of a framework as universal and ambitious as the SDGs? The 2030 1 See, for example, ISEAL and WWF (2017), "How Credible Standards Can Help Companies Deliver the 2030 Agenda"; ISEAL is a VSS umbrella organisation. One of the earliest of such publications came from Fairtrade International (2015)-"Sustainable Development Goals and Fairtrade: The Case for Partnership". 2 See, for instance, UNFSS (2016), "Meeting Sustainability Goals: Voluntary Sustainability Standards and the Role of the Government". 3 In an earlier draft of the strategy, the target was to increase the market share of Fairtrade and similarly labelled products; the final version only refers to EU Organic Certification (a public VSS).
The complexity of current global challenges necessitates innovative and strategic solutions and, in particular, better models of governance. The twenty-first century began with the launch of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), followed by the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015. This new set of goals has evolved from a governmental approach to a multi-stakeholder approach, introducing a comprehensive management framework for sustainable development worldwide that goes much beyond the aid-centred focus of the past. International institutions such as the United Nations (UN) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have extended support to governments and other actors in achieving development and sustainability goals through various mechanisms and strategies. World summits such as Rio + 20 in 2012, the First High Level Meeting of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation in 2014 and the Third International Conference on Financing for Development in 2015 1 made it clear that any effort towards economic growth and combating poverty must be achieved with a commitment to environmental sustainability, human rights, inclusion, transparency, accountability and coherence. Inclusive economic growth, poverty reduction and sustainable development are still considered to depend on "trade as an engine for development" (UNGA, 2015, p. 37) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO), despite the failure of the Doha 1 The Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA) was agreed upon at this conference.
While accelerated economic globalization may have generated additional employment and income worldwide, it has also been one of the drivers of unsustainable production and consumption patterns across the globe. Every day, conditions of production somewhere in the world infringe on human health and wellbeing, often far away from the place where the goods and services are eventually purchased by the end consumer. Likewise, current production and consumption models exceed planetary limitations to human activity in many ways, causing irreversible damage to the environment and earth system. These impacts of economic activity are, in principle, recognized today and manifest as key sustainability concerns. The objective of sustainability is being pursued through multiple routes at many different levels by a variety of actors. The focus of this edited volume is on sustainability standards (and sustainability regulations) as an important vehicle to make global consumption and production more sustainable. The different contributions also shed light on the link between sustainability standards and global governance. The scope of global governance has been thus described by the Commission on Global Governance: Governance is the sum of the many ways individuals and institutions, public and private, manage their common affairs. It is a continuing process through which conflicting or diverse interests may be accommodated and cooperative action may be taken. It includes formal
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