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It has been announced that, from 2024, the Floriculture Sustainability Initiative (FSI), the Sustainability Initiative Fruits and Vegetables (SIFAV) and the Sustainable Juice Covenant (SJC), with support from IDH, The Sustainable Trade Initiative, will only accept audits from third-party social sustainability standards that have been benchmarked and recognised by the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative (SSCI).
The three leading sustainability organisations, FSI, SIFAV, and SJC are platforms with the purpose of convening sustainability agendas within the flower, fruit and vegetable and juice value chains, and collectively consist of nearly 120 businesses and civil society organisations (see full list of members). Together, all three initiatives and their members are committed to implementing third-party independent social sustainability verification and this announcement means that the three initiatives and their respective members will only accept audits and verifications from third-party social sustainability standards that have been benchmarked and recognised by SSCI.
To date, the BRCGS Ethical Trading and Responsible Sourcing (ETRS) Standard is the only social sustainability certification program to have achieved this benchmark. It enables businesses to meet the ever-evolving needs of their clients, and respond to shifts in buyer, regulatory and investor behaviour. It is the only global standard that provides supply chain confidence and true social compliance and supports a commitment to building trust in the consumer goods industry with recognised programmes that respect key sustainability criteria.