Assessing the Effects of Certification Networks on Sustainable Production and Consumption: The Cases of FLO and FSC

Abstract

Sustainable consumption, Certification, Private governance, FSC, Fair trade,

Consumer Readiness to Reduce Meat Consumption for the Purpose of Environmental Sustainability: Insights from Norway

“…The discourse of ascribing environmental responsibility to the individual consumer has become part of mainstream policy-making, and the distribution of (environmental) information and facilitating of consumer empowerment are regarded as important policy tools [22][23][24][25]. Consumers are perceived to be part of the solution, and they are expected to be aware of their responsibility and act responsibly through their decision-making at the point of purchase [26][27][28][29]. This strategy is part of a regulatory regime based on voluntarism, market solutions and the state acting at a distance [30][31][32][33][34], and it requires significant consumer engagement in order to be successful.…”

Putting Sustainable Consumption into Practice

“…Three papers in this special issue focus on labelling. Gandenberger et al (2011) analyse certification networks behind prominent product labels. They chose the Fairtrade Labelling Organisation (FLO) and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) as two examples in which different non-governmental and business actors work together to establish a credible certification and labelling scheme.…”

Conceptualizing Sustainably Produced Food for Promotional Purposes: A Sustainable Marketing Approach

“…Given the coherence in the literature concerning small-scale agricultural practice as the most efficient way out of poverty, hunger and cultural homogeneity in the South (as reflected in the wording of the concepts describing sustainably produced food), it is doubtful that long-distance transported food, whether eco-labeled or fair-trade-labeled, will contribute to sustainable food production in the long run. The transformative potential of within-market certification-based labeling schemes is contradictory [180]. Empirical evidence indicates several dilemmas that must be dealt with, as "the inclusion of marginalized producers and the production of mainstream quality products are organizational tasks which cannot be realized simultaneously because they contradict each other" ( [180], p. 121).…”

“…Empirical evidence indicates several dilemmas that must be dealt with, as "the inclusion of marginalized producers and the production of mainstream quality products are organizational tasks which cannot be realized simultaneously because they contradict each other" ( [180], p. 121). The example of fair trade banana exports subordinating social to quality goals indicates that the global sourcing of sustainably labeled products does not possess the transformative potential needed to change food production and consumption practice [180].…”