Rainforest Alliance announces enhanced certification programme and standard
Coffee farmer in Central America
The Rainforest Alliance has published a new sustainability certification programme with more robust criteria, measurement and impact featuring several key innovations. The new programme will replace existing Rainforest Alliance and UTZ certification programmes from mid-2021.
The international non-profit organisation expects at least two million farmers around the world to use the new certification programme to produce better crops, adapt to climate change, increase their productivity and reduce costs. Major brands and businesses along the supply chain will rely on the programme to source a steady supply of certified ingredients, meet their commitment to responsible business, and address the rising consumer expectations for more sustainable products.
The new programme consists of the Sustainable Agriculture Standard with requirements for farms and supply chains, along with a new assurance system and a suite of tools to measure progress towards sustainability objectives. The two years of work to reach this critical point build on the organisation’s combined 45 years of certification experience following the merger of the Rainforest Alliance and UTZ in 2018.
The development of the new certification programme included public consultations that received input from more than 1,000 people in nearly 50 countries, representing more than 200 organisations.
“The new certification programme incorporates new tools to support farmers and companies to set clear sustainability targets and focus investments to improve positive impacts for people and nature,” said Ruth Rennie, director of standards and assurance at the Rainforest Alliance. “These tools and innovations will support more resilient agriculture and help make responsible business the new normal. This is increasingly urgent in our age of climate change, biodiversity loss, and global inequality.”
“This ambitious and innovative certification programme is part of the Rainforest Alliance’s strategy of collaboration with farmers, companies, implementing partners, and third-party auditors, as well as other NGOs, governments, and consumers,” said Alex Morgan, chief markets officer at the Rainforest Alliance. “Only together can we restore the balance between people and nature and create a world where we thrive together,” he added.
In May of this year, the Rainforest Alliance also released its new seal, which can be used on product packaging and promotional materials from 1 September 2020. The new seal will eventually replace the current Rainforest Alliance Certified seal and the UTZ label. The new certification seal is a simple visual that shows consumers how to make a better choice and demonstrates that farmers and companies are taking steps to make their products more sustainable.
Key innovations of the Rainforest Alliance 2020 certification programme:
- Climate-smart agriculture: A climate-smart agriculture approach is vital for farmers and businesses around the world who need to adapt to a changing climate in order to secure the future of their crops and livelihoods, products, and supply chains. The 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard is inherently oriented towards climate-smart agriculture with a focus on adaptation and resilience.
- Human rights: A new “Assess-and-Address” approach to tackling human rights issues such as child labour, forced labour, discrimination, and workplace violence and harassment has been developed. Rather than imposing a simple ban that often drives the problem underground, Rainforest Alliance says the new approach focuses on assessing the risks and engaging local communities to work together to prevent and address the issues wherever and whenever they may occur.
- Improved data management: Better analysis of risks and measurement of performance, new digital tools for farmers and clearer performance insights for companies. Geospatial analysis is used to support and monitor performance against key requirements of the standard, such as the avoidance of deforestation.
- Shared responsibility: The programme seeks to address systemic imbalances in global supply chains, which put too much burden on producers alone to achieve more sustainable agricultural production. Buyers will have to reward producers for meeting sustainable agriculture standards by paying a mandatory ‘sustainability differential’ which is an additional cash payment over and above the market price for the sale of certified crops. Buyers will also need to provide investments to support producers to achieve their sustainability objectives and be transparent about those.
- Social and environmental requirements for supply chains: In the new certification programme, companies in the supply chain identified as having a high risk of negative social and environmental impacts will also need to implement improved practices. These include for instance ensuring decent working conditions and labour protections as well as wastewater management.
- Deforestation: Deforestation continues to be banned for certified producers, but prohibition will extend to the conversion of all natural ecosystems, including wetlands and peatlands, for more land to be protected and managed more sustainably.
- Risk-based requirements and assurance: The new certification programme is based on more in-depth risk assessment of the social and environmental risks to sustainable agricultural production in different crops and countries. Data from the risk assessment will be used to provide guidance to producers and companies on where to focus their improvements for maximum impact.
From September 2020, the Rainforest Alliance will start rolling out the certification programme around the world through a comprehensive global training programme and further development of supporting technology systems. From July 2021, all audits will be against the 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard.
