Are you frustrated with the numerous sustainability audits that your company is required to pay for and complete? If so, you are not alone: we are hearing from an increasingly growing number of producers that filling out a dizzying number of sustainability audit schemes and questionnaires is becoming … unsustainable.
I wish I had an immediate solution for you. What I can share with you is that the work underway by the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) will help reduce the burden associated with multiple sustainability audits within the next 1-3 years.
CGF is the organization that created the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) benchmarking process, which assisted in establishing equivalency among food safety audits.
The food safety audit scheme-owners had their audit schemes benchmarked to the GFSI standard to gain wider acceptance among buyers. As a result, most buyers are now willing to accept multiple different food safety audits, as long as they are GFSI benchmarked.
Clearly, achieving the same outcome for sustainability audits will have great benefits for our industry.
CGF has embarked on creating an independent benchmarking process for sustainability audit schemes. This initiative is called Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative (SSCI) and is exclusively designed for third-party auditing, monitoring and certification schemes.
The SSCI is based on criteria developed by CGF members, external stakeholders such as PMA and other supply chain and sustainability experts from industry, intergovernmental organizations, and NGOs.
The SSCI sets the bar for what the industry expects from third-party auditing, monitoring and sustainability certification schemes. The SSCI benchmarking covers social responsibility schemes and environmental sustainability schemes.
The Social Compliance benchmark has been completed for Primary Production, Manufacturing & Processing as well as at Sea Operations. Audit schemes BRCGS, Best Aquaculture Practices and Aluminum Stewardship Initiative are currently undergoing the benchmarking process for Social Compliance for Processing & Manufacturing scope.
Naturipe Farms and Driscoll’s participated in the working groups and sat on SSCI’s steering committee for Social Responsibility. PMA, Naturipe Farms and Driscoll’s were successful in ensuring that the principles of the Ethical Charter on Responsible Labor Practices were incorporated into the SSCI social responsibility benchmark criteria.
The Ethical Charter on Responsible Labor Practices was designed and tested by a multi-stakeholder working group before being endorsed by produce suppliers, quick-service restaurants, and retailers throughout North America.
The Environmental Compliance benchmark is just beginning. A survey will be issued soon by CGF on Environmental Compliance to stakeholders for industry input. The technical work should begin in the third quarter of 2021 and the benchmarking of audit schemes should begin in mid-2022.
The Environmental Compliance benchmark will also cover Primary Production, Manufacturing & Processing and at Sea Operations.
Visit the Consumer Goods Forum’s website to see the progress of audit schemes with the SSCI benchmarking process.
I encourage all industry members to request SSCI Benchmarking of the audit scheme that you are using.
Ed Treacy is vice president of supply chain and sustainability for the Produce Marketing Association.
