Evolving Practices in Sustainability
Assurance
Karin Kreider
Sustainability in the Food Supply Chain, September 2011
Photo © Rainforest Alliance
Introducing the ISEAL Alliance
Our Members: Voluntary social
and environmental standards
systems
Our Focus: Scaling up social and
environmental impacts
Our Tools: ISEAL
Codes of Good Practice
(Standard-Setting, Impacts,
Assurance…)
Our Strategies: Shared learning,
collaboration, stakeholder
engagement and awareness
raising
Members of the ISEAL Alliance
12 members in full compliance
with ISEAL Membership Criteria
(including compliance with
existing ISEAL Codes of Good
Practice and other internationally
recognised guidance including ISO
Guide 17011 for Accreditation
Members)
7 newer members have
committed to demonstrate full
compliance within 1-3 years from
the date of membership approval.
Members of the ISEAL Alliance
Elements of Credibility
StandardSetting
•Open and
transparent
•Multi-stakeholder
process
•Defines purpose
and necessity of
standard
Assurance
Impacts
•Auditing
•Social
•Certification
•Environmental
•Accreditation
•Economic
Claims and
Labelling
•Relevant
measurable,
objective criteria
•Traceability
•Accurate claims
Components of Assurance
All-encompassing term, as defined by ISEAL to include:
Auditing
– Competencies, training, evaluation
Certification
– 1st party
– 2nd party
– 3rd party
Accreditation
Auditing
Certification
Accreditation
Role of Assurance in
a Standards System
• Three core functions
– Setting the standard
– Assessing compliance with the
standard
– Measuring the impacts of
compliance
• Proxy for direct relationship
between producer and
consumer
Photo © Fairtrade International
• What does credible assurance
look like?
Redefining Effective
Assurance
What if effectiveness is defined as
contribution to impact?
What is the value-added that
assurance can bring?
Photo © Fairtrade Foundation Simon Rawles
Define effective more broadly, as
assurance that is:
– Replicable
– Impartial
– Accessible / Affordable
– Transparent
– Locally accountable
– Scalable
Current Issues
•Impacts
•Credibility
•Cost & Accessibility
Photo © Rainforest Alliance
Credibility:
Developing an ISEAL
Assurance Code
• Strong ISEAL member support drives
development
• Multi-stakeholder consultation
• 9 member Steering Committee
• 9 member Technical Committee
• At least 2 rounds of public consultation
• Expected completion June 2012
Photo © Marine Stewardship Council
• First draft for consultation in November
Proposed Scope of Assurance Code
Include some or all of the following issues
– Auditor Competence - screening, training, qualification, calibration
and monitoring
– Audit implementation – minimum requirements for good practice +
guidance notes to ISO 17065, 17021
– Transparency – additional requirements (beyond ISO) where
needed – ‘transparency can reduce the need for excessive rigour’
– Standard quality – consistent interpretation of standards
– Accessibility – deals with the challenges of cost and access and will
include innovative options
Complementary to ISO standards (17011, 17065, 17021)
Requirements apply to scheme-owner; & CBs and ABs where
appropriate
Doesn’t ISO already provide enough guidance?
ISO Standards (65, 17021, 17011) form a strong foundation
– Systems-based
– Supporting impartial, independent and consistent results
Assurance of sustainability standards requires more
– Competence, transparency, accountability, accessibility
ISO acknowledges Scheme-specific guidance is necessary
(17067)
– Auditor competencies, audit process, decision-making
Assurance Code as scheme-specific guidance for social and
environmental standards systems
– Potentially includes interpretation of ISO standards
Consultation Findings – In Brief
Identify the top 4 challenges to credible assurance
Auditor competence
Resource constraints
Governance
Standard quality
Product traceability
Transparency
Managing large producer groups
Other
Certification decision making
Access for small CBs
0
10
20
30
40
% choice
50
60
70
Consultation Findings – In Brief
Which of these challenges could be addressed by the
Assurance Code?
Auditor competence
Governance
Transparency
Standard quality
Managing large producer groups
Certification decision making
Resource constraints
Product traceability
Other
Access for small CBs
0
10
20
30
40
% choice
50
60
70
External Trends and Advances
•Strong trend amongst other programs (e.g. ISO, food safety) to place
increased emphasis on personnel competency and potential for
personnel certification.
•IFOAM’s participatory guarantee system encourages self and/or peer
assessment. Successful when local stakeholders are fully involved .
•GlobalG.A.P. operates a certification integrity program, which checks if
outcomes achieved and calibrates accreditors and certifiers.
•Audit technology is rapidly developing.
Audit Technologies
Audit technologies have been developing rapidly, enabling the
following
– Workflows built into software - checklists change based on
responses
– Options to select descriptions of how the client achieving
conformity, beyond yes / no
– Logic rules ensure complete audits and identify inconsistencies
– Information on risk used to change audit frequency or intensity
– New reporting tools, combined with faster hardware, increase
ability to extract information from data
– Operating costs and response times are lowered
– Use of mobile phones for data transfer allows relatively low cost,
almost ubiquitous access
Credibility: Auditor
Competence
Options for Addressing:
• Common requirements for
training, qualification,
monitoring
• Common training platform
• Central (common)
registration/accreditation
programme for auditors
• Certification of auditors
• Guidance notes to ISO
17065
Photo © Chris Wille
Cost and Accessibility: Risk-based Approaches
• Certification as a risk management programme
• Audit risk is the risk that the audit will not provide an accurate
conclusion as to client conformity
• Expressed by multiplying three factors:
– Control risk – the risk that the client does not know that their system
is non-conforming
– Inherent risk – risks associated with the client, the industry or culture
– Detection risk – the risk that the audit will miss non-conformities if
they exist
Options for addressing cost and accessibility
•
•
•
•
•
Use of risk assessment to reduce audit frequency
Finding other benefits from assurance (capacity building,
data gathering)
Providing options for the right level of assurance based on
risk and stakeholder demand
Increasing transparency while reducing audit requirements
Guidance to ISO 17065 (for capacity building, access for small
CBs)
Cost and Accessibility
Group Certification: Facilitate
access for small holders
– Shared research
– Adoption of common
procedures for group
certification
Joint Audits between Standards
Systems
Photo © 4C Association
Conclusions
Impacts
Collaboration
Innovations
Accessibility
Photo
Stewardship
Photo©©Marine
Alliance Council
Rainforest
Learning
For More Information:
Karin Kreider
Scaling Up Director
karin@isealalliance.org
www.isealalliance.org