Initial Situation
Social and environmental standards are used as a proof for the sustainable production of goods and services. But the increasing amount of standard systems is leading to uncertainty for consumer, companies and public purchasers and allows "greenwashing".
Objective
Public and private consumers, companies and civil society in Germany and developing countries get access to evaluation results on sustainability standards as a basis for sustainable purchasing decisions.
Approach
An IT-based comparison tool will be developed in consultation with national and international experts, to measure and compare the performance and credibility of sustainability standards. The evaluation results will be presented to users of the tool on target group oriented internet platforms. The user groups are public and private consumers, companies and standard systems.
The International Trade Center (ITC) provides the data basis for the evaluation of sustainability standards via the StandardsMap database. It includes data of 150 standards, which will be up-dated every year. In addition, a regular exchange between existing benchmarking initiatives will be installed to contribute to a harmonization of evaluation criteria.
An appropriate host organization with a self-sustained funding structure will be identified, to ensure the long-term provision of the information platforms and the further development of the evaluation methodology beyond the project duration.
Impacts
The evaluation results lead to better informed choices between existing sustainability standards and thereby contribute to sustainable production and consumption. The comparison between standard systems should create the incentive for improvement between schemes.