7 Innovations Driving Sustainable Markets

Yesterday, our president Tensie Whelan shared some of the most important themes to come out of the Rainforest Alliance’s Certification and Sustainability Innovation Workshop with the folks at Green Biz. Here, we’ve included highlights from that blog.

Certified sustainable segments of industries with the biggest environmental and social footprints–agriculture, forestry and tourism–have been growing for a decade. Rainforest Alliance Certfied™  farms produce 4.6 percent of the world’s coffee, 10.2 percent of cocoa, 11.2 percent of tea, and 15 percent of bananas. Forest Stewardship Council forests worldwide cover an area about the size of Chile. Sustainability certification is expanding into new markets, like the first certified cattle ranches and the first FSC-certified TV set. The list of businesses committed to 100 percent sustainable sourcing is impressive and growing.

This sort of growth is a new normal, and in a way, old news, although no less welcome for being an established trend. But beyond that, something else is emerging in the certification and sustainability sectors these days: The sense that as they grow, they’re supplying the knowledge and innovations their entire industries will need to function well as sustainability challenges ramp up.

According to KPMG, “sustainability megaforces”–from population growth and food security to deforestation and climate change–will affect every business’s performance and profitability within 20 years. A new study finds the food and beverage sectors are at the highest risk. Pioneers of sustainable production and sourcing are confronting problems and evolving solutions today that the rest of their industries may depend on tomorrow. Their work was showcased at a Sustainability and Certification Innovation Workshop the Rainforest Alliance organized last week in New York, featuring business leaders and experts sharing what they’re learning and inventing as they climb the sustainability curve.

Throughout the workshop, common themes emerged:

Cut waste – IndoTeak Design purchases reclaimed teak at auction and re-uses it to craft flooring, paneling and decking. It’s finding major savings by reducing packaging and changing package shape to optimize it for shipping containers, which cuts transport costs 40 percent. Kingfisher, Europe’s leading home improvement retailer, reduced landfill waste 70 percent and cut packaging costs by dumpster diving to investigate what its stores were throwing away and why.

Visit Green Biz to learn more about the themes that emerged at our workshop.

Rainforest Alliance President Tensie Whelan Chats with “The GivLive Show”

Last week, Rainforest Alliance president Tensie Whelan had a lively conversation with John Cervenka on ”The GivLive Show.”

Watch the interview and discover how you can support the Rainforest Alliance’s work.

 

Following the Frog: Jessica Hickman of Allegheny Mountain Hardwood Flooring

In early April, Rainforest Alliance staffer Hope Saginario caught up with Jessica Hickman of Allegheny Mountain Hardwood Flooring at the National Wood Flooring Association Expo in Dallas, TX. The two chatted about Allegheny’s historic commitment to certification and sustainable forestry. In 1999, Hickman Lumber (Allegheny’s parent company) became the first forest manager in Pennsylvania to earn Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification from the Rainforest Alliance.

 

The Rainforest Alliance is the world’s leading FSC Forest Management certifier, with more than 20 years of certification experience. We’ve worked in over 70 countries and all forest types, with small businesses, indigenous communities and Fortune 500 companies alike.

Always Learning and Growing

It’s rare for an organization to take a thorough look at what it is doing and ask, “Is it up to snuff?”  However, the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN)–the international coalition that owns the standard to which all Rainforest Alliance Certified™ farms are audited—is currently doing just that. Here, Oliver Bach, the SAN’s director of standards and policy, tells us what’s happening in the world of Rainforest Alliance certification this year.

Pluckers on a Rainforest Alliance Certified tea farm in India.

The Sustainable Agriculture Network standards and principles were first developed in Latin America in 1993 and encompass comprehensive criteria for social, environmental and economic sustainability. In 1994, the first certifications took place on banana plantations. Nearly two decades later, more than 600 producer groups and 800,000 farms covering over 6.4 million acres (2.6 million hectares) in 43 countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America have been certified. The SAN standards are adapted to local conditions; a regional multi-stakeholder process leads to the publication and implementation of local interpretation guidelines for specific crops and specific countries.

One of the strengths of the standard is its focus on continuous, evidence-based improvement coupled with regular reviews of the standards based on extensive consultation and stakeholder discussion.  This allows us to ensure that the standards are both innovative and adaptive.

Our current standard was published in 2010, and while we have made amendments and published additional elements to that standard—for example, publishing our standards for cattle production systems and group certification—it’s once again time to take a thorough look at all of our standards. We need to refresh, renew and ensure that they include the latest knowledge and understanding. That means that 2013 will be a big year for the SAN, the Rainforest Alliance and certification.

Starting this month, we are holding a public consultation process covering all three of our standards (Sustainable Agriculture Standard, Standard for Sustainable Cattle Production Systems and Group Certification Standard). These three standards will be reviewed together along with our Certification Policy and Conformity Indicators which are applicable to all crops in all countries. This process will lead to a new SAN Standard which we aim to publish in 2014. After one year, the new standard will be binding for all audits—including audits on farms that are already Rainforest Alliance Certified.

One of the SAN’s priorities is making its Sustainable Agriculture Standard more adaptable to smallholder farms and ranches.  The public consultation process includes workshops with a wide spectrum of local stakeholders from around the globe designed to expand the source of views and comments on that first draft. SAN stakeholders will also be able to post comments online at SAN Public Consultations.

Addressing Living Wages

The beauty—and challenge–of this process is that it enables us to address a number of thorny issues that have arisen since the last version of our standard was published.  One of these is the issue of what constitutes a “living wage.”

At the SAN, we are seeking to establish a revised Living Wage standard that equitably balances the livelihood and sustainability of farmers and the quality of life for workers and their families.

The SAN Living Wage Progression will cover eight basic needs that build on the current requirement that workers on certified farms be paid at least the locally defined minimum wage. In addition to those critieria set in the 2010 Standard (potable water, access to education and health services, decent housing), the SAN International Standards Committee is proposing that a Living Wage be calculated to cover the worker and and his/her family’s costs for transport to and from work, clothing, adequate food and some savings for emergencies (including, for example, lack of income from unemployment or natural catastrophes). We propose that all certified farms reach this Living Wage Progression within a framework of five years.

One of our biggest challenges is the lack of an internationally agreed upon approach to identifying a living wage for each country and each circumstance.  During 2013, various calculation methodologies will be reviewed and recommended to support the local implementation and auditing of the SAN’s Living Wage Progression. The SAN will also be developing conformity indicators for this process so that local calibrations are approximately equalized. The SAN will continue to rely on its successful local interpretation guideline development processes, involving multi-stakeholder participation, to help local farms to meet their living wage progression plans.  Our aim is to ensure that certification properly ensures that workers have access to a truly livable wage in the future.

We look forward to your participation in the standards development process, and to sharing the revised, strengthened standards when they are available!

Welcome to the Rainforest Alliance’s New Home

Last night, the Rainforest Alliance team welcomed donors, supporters, partners and friends to come visit us in our new headquarters within the historic Woolworth Building. Guests enjoyed hors d’oeuvres, drinks and good company–plus a warm welcome speech from our president Tensie Whelan.

Here, we share her words of welcome.

The Rainforest Alliance’s new headquarters in New York City recently achieved Forest Stewardship Council™ (FSC) Project certification, making it the first building in the region to achieve this distinction. 

 

What Does It Take to Be a Rainforest Alliance Auditor?

Follow a group of new auditors on a training session in China.

The Rainforest Alliance’s audit team recently joined executives from a local tea company and the Fengquing village council to walk through tea plots just outside of a small community in China’s Yunnan Province.

The team was in Yunnan for a week-long training to introduce new auditors to the ins and outs of Rainforest Alliance certification. Led by long-time trainer and auditor Noah Jackson, the participants included Jean Zhang and Shao Meng of China Quality Mark (CQM), the Rainforest Alliance’s new certification partner in China.

In 2012, the Lincang region of Yunnan became home to the first Rainforest Alliance Certified™ farm in China: Green Fountain Tea Estate. Through trainings like this one, the Rainforest Alliance is working to expand its certification program in China with a host of new locally based auditors.

Before joining the CQM audit team, Zhang worked for years outside of China inspecting factories and ensuring the safety of factory machinery. She brings years of experience in designing management systems to her new position as leader of a team of Rainforest Alliance auditors in China.

Hu Zhengwei, another new addition to the audit team, previously worked as an organic auditor. Here, he stands next to a water tank used for irrigation during the dry season.

Mao Xiaoti (nicknamed Tete) has worked as an auditor for CQM for three years. “The Sustainable Agriculture Network Standard [which Rainforest Alliance Certified farms are audited against] involves the auditor gathering evidence based not just on documentation, but interviews with farmers,” she reflects, after participating in two audits with the Rainforest Alliance certification team. “This is different from the other standards I have learned in China.”

Tang Yi Cong, who prefers to be called Hunter, has a background in organic auditing and currently manages and schedules audits for CQM. “With other forms of auditing, you can get a lot of the work done just by evaluating documentation, like water test reports and factory records,” he says. “With the Rainforest Alliance, you’ve got to use your head. You need field experience.”

The team stopped at the home of a local farmer working toward Rainforest Alliance certification to conduct an interview. It was a learning experience for Zhang, who, like all auditors participating in the training, will eventually conduct these interviews alone as part of the formal on-farm audit process.

Auditors must learn to build trust and rapport with farmers. During the interview process, they will need farmers to open up about crop diversity, pest management, farm goals and challenges. Lead auditor and trainer Noah Jackson often breaks the ice by trading his personal collection of seeds with farmers.

To ensure that certified and noncertified tea remains separate, auditors analyze traceability records from a factory against farmer sale records. This measure ensures that products stamped with the Rainforest Alliance Certified seal actually contain Rainforest Alliance Certified ingredients.

Farm and company representatives must also carefully note any issues found on a farm during an initial diagnostic audit. They will have an opportunity to correct these issues — which can include agrochemical use, drought and labor concerns — before auditors return for a follow-up visit. Farms must meet the SAN’s comprehensive set of social, environmental and economic criteria before they can earn the green frog seal.

Unlike audits conducted by other certification bodies, Rainforest Alliance audits focus on all crops grown on a farm rather than individual crops. This corn is genetically modified and would not be permitted on a Rainforest Alliance Certified farm.

To diversify their output and reduce chemical inputs, many Rainforest Alliance Certified farmers raise cattle. Manure is composted and, in some cases, can completely eliminate the need for chemical fertilizer.

If all agrochemicals cannot be eliminated, farms must at a minimum learn to reduce pesticide use and eliminate any of the “dirty dozen” agrochemicals. Farmers must also ensure that their workers have protective equipment while applying chemicals. Here, a new Rainforest Alliance trainee pulls up the translation of an agrochemical during a farm visit.

Smallholder farmers in China grow more than tea. They often produce a variety of vegetables to supplement their diets and diversify their income.

Erosion is a huge problem in Southern China and often stems from new road construction and issues associated with planting on steep slopes. All Rainforest Alliance Certified farms must have an erosion control program.

New auditors must also analyze how tea farmers work and live within their community, and must understand the labor supply and demand in the regions where they work. In China, for example, there are often labor shortages caused by decades of mass migration from rural to urban areas.

At the end of a long day, new auditors enjoy a walk with tea farmers and managers to learn more about how tea is grown and farms are managed. Auditors need to understand more than the audit process and the SAN standards. They must understand the nuances of tea, farmers and local communities. Pictured here, Jean Zhang (front, purple), Tang Yi Cong (white shirt, right), Xioti Ma (pink jacket, center) and Meng Shao (stripped shirt, rear).

All photos by Rainforest Alliance trainer and auditor Noah Jackson.

3 Perspectives on Rainforest Alliance Certification: Balance Bar, Bissinger’s and Endangered Species

In March, the Rainforest Alliance team headed to Natural Products Expo West—the nation’s largest tradeshow for natural, organic and healthy products—to promote certification and meet with some of the forward-thinking companies sourcing ingredients from Rainforest Alliance Certified™ farms. We asked representatives from Balance Bar®, Bissinger’s Handcrafted Chocolatier and Endangered Species Chocolate to discuss why they chose Rainforest Alliance certification—and how their commitments are benefitting communities, wildlife and the global environment.

Balance Bar

What they did at Expo West? Balance Bar® announced the launch of three new flavors made with 100 percent cocoa from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms: Dark Chocolate Crunch, Dark Chocolate Coconut and Dark Chocolate Peanut.

Bissinger’s Handcrafted Chocolatier

What they did at Expo West? Bissinger’s Handcrafted Chocolatier announced the launch of three new bars made with 100 percent cocoa from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms: Banana Pecan Caramel Bar, Coconut Caramel with Red Hawaiian Sea Salt Bar and Dulce de Leche with Sea Salt Bar.

Endangered Species Chocolate 

What they did at Expo West? Endangered Species Chocolate announced the launch of two new natural chocolate bars featuring cocoa from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms: Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt and Almonds and Dark Chocolate with Cherries.

Are you a chocolate lover looking to find more great products bearing the Rainforest Alliance Certified seal? Visit Shop the Frog!

Are you a company representative looking to get involved? Visit our website!

From the Experts: Child Labor and the Cocoa Industry

Edward Millard, the Rainforest Alliance’s director of sustainable landscapes, reflects on the causes of child labor in the West African cocoa industry and the tools necessary to combat it.

The Rainforest Alliance believes that independent certification programs, like Rainforest Alliance Certified™, are central to delivering solutions to economic, environmental and social issues that are endemic within the cocoa sector, including child labor.

A Business School Class Explores the Roots of Sustainability

In January, Rainforest Alliance staffer Meriwether Hardie traveled to Costa Rica with Professor Robert Strand and his class from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management. The group was in Costa Rica for two-week-long sustainability and social responsibility course, exploring Caribou Coffee’s value chain and the many stakeholders involved. (Caribou Coffee sources 100 percent of its coffee from Rainforest Alliance Certified™ farms.) The class itinerary included a day at the Rainforest Alliance office in San Jose, a discussion with Root Capital (a nonprofit social investment fund that lends capital and delivers financial training to small producers), a day with a Rainforest Alliance Verified™ community tourism group, several visits to Rainforest Alliance Certified farms with Chad Trewick of Caribou Coffee, and a two-day field trip with Chiquita to the company’s Mundimar fruit processing plant, Nogal Nature Reserve and a number of fruit farms. We asked students to reflect on the experience by taking us through the supply chain–beginning on the certified farm and ending with a finished product.

The class (with Meriwether Hardie, kneeling in a white blouse) outside of the Rainforest Alliance’s offices in San Jose, Costa Rica.

Step 1: The Farm Visit

Our journey begins with Bridget Bawek, who writes about the experience of entering a Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee farm.

As we drove through the coffee fields at the Doka Estate in Alejuela, Costa Rica, my classmates and I got our first taste of what coffee was all about. After taking in the beauty of the rolling fields, I began to notice the distinct signs of a Rainforest Alliance Certified farm, from water drainage systems to ground cover to shade trees. Soon we arrived at a meeting place where the pickers were gathering with their berries. Watching the workers wait patiently in line to receive tokens for their work, I realized that to these workers coffee is more than a beverage; it’s a way of life.

Later, we were taught about the importance of pruning coffee plants. The plants are trimmed periodically–minimizing yield in the short term but making the plants healthier and more productive in the long term. This is a great example of the trade off between short- and long-term gains.

A clean stream on a passion fruit farm.

Courtney Sutherland writes about the link between coffee and culture in Costa Rica.

‘Coffee is not a job to us, it is a cultural activity,’ explained Jose, an employee at the coffee co-op Coopronaranjo. For as long as Jose could remember, he has been surrounded by coffee. He remembers growing up picking small baskets of coffee with his family and playing in the coffee plant bushes with his friends. As he grew older, he spent his school vacations on a coffee farm, not because he felt he needed to earn money but because it was so ingrained in his culture; in his own words, ‘It is part of our roots.’ Our group chuckled when he  said, ‘The manager loves the farm more than his wife.’ Jose also asked me to send a message on his behalf: ‘Tell everyone how important coffee is to us.’

On a Rainforest Alliance Certified Chiquita banana farm, Alex Feeken saw firsthand how certification can benefit biodiversity.

My favorite part of the Chiquita banana farm visit was seeing the nature reserve.  We learned that every farm that is Rainforest Alliance Certified is required to reserve part of their forestland for wildlife and plants.  Our guide, Fabian, pointed out a little white- faced monkey walking along the limb of a tree.  Once he got to the edge of the limb, he paused and made a gigantic leap to the next tree over. After, we saw two more monkeys complete the same jump!

Step 2: The Processing Plant

The work doesn’t end after coffee is harvested. Andrea Kramer describes the work involved in coffee processing:

As a consumer, I had never thought about coffee bean processing, but it involves washing, drying, sorting, packaging. There’s a lot of work between each step.  To think about how much coffee passes through just one of these processing plants in a year is staggering.

The amount of water used to wash the coffee cherries is monitored and cleaned after use, and then redistributed into the environment. Costa Rica has pretty strict laws concerning water cleanliness and use, but the Rainforest Alliance plays a major part in mandating water practices as well.

Stickers are applied to freshly washed bananas.

Step 3: The Company Commitment

The students saw firsthand the impact of CSR on communities, wildlife and the global environment. Stephen Moyer explains:

Meeting with Caribou employees, I now understand that there are companies in the business world that actually care about sustainability and believe that it is their responsibility to change the world we live in. Sustainability and corporate social responsibility are intertwined at Caribou Coffee.

Caribou Coffee’s Chad Trewick talks to students about coffee and sustainability.

Step 4: The Consumer Choice

The students left with a deeper understanding of the link between their choices and the health of our planet. MaKayla Minion explains:

With everything we do – we make an impact on the world around us. It is our duty to choose this impact to be for the better. Leaders on this trip kept saying, ‘You vote with your dollars.’ After my trip to Costa Rica, I know I’m doing more with my dollar than just buying a cup of coffee; I am voting for a healthier farming community.”

Visit our website to learn more about the link between farmers, businesses, consumers and our global environment.

 

Livia Firth Talks Gucci, Gowns and the Importance of Being Green

We don’t often talk fashion on this blog. That’s changing today for a very special reason: Livia Firth, creative director of Eco-Age and co-founder of the Green Carpet Challenge, has granted us an exclusive interview. Early this month, the Gucci for the Green Carpet Challenge handbag collection was launched during Paris Fashion Week; the handbags are the first-ever products made with leather from Rainforest Alliance Certified™ ranches.

Livia Firth with her Gucci for the Green Carpet handbag.

What inspired you to start Eco-Age? 

It was my brother Nicola Giuggioli’s idea a few years ago.

How has it evolved over time? 


When we started the business in January 2007 it was a retailer on the high street selling design-driven home products and offering consultancy service for home owners who were interested in “greening up” their houses. Today, Eco-Age is a consultancy company specializing in enabling businesses to achieve growth and add value through sustainability–we have a wide array of clients both in the fashion and in the corporate world.

Tell us about the Green Carpet Challenge. 

British journalist Lucy Siegle challenged me to wear only eco-friendly gowns on the red carpets when Colin received the Golden Globe nomination for Tom Ford’s A Single Man.  We started it as a trial and it became so successful that today we are working with all the big fashion houses and working deep in the supply chain.

We don’t normally think of the big fashion houses being eco-friendly. Why did you approach Gucci with this idea? 

We wanted to work with Gucci for few reasons. A lot of Brazilian leather arrives in Italy, is stamped “Made in Italy” after the tanning process and used by many fashion houses that are not aware of its real provenance. Gucci is an iconic brand, especially for leather products, so it was the perfect partner for creating a fully traceable and “clean” new supply chain.  Moreover, they are part of PPR group, which started addressing sustainability few years ago when Mr. Pinault created PPR Home. Gucci’s CSR department is strong and serious, their factories in Florence we visited few times, so they were the perfect partner for this.

Did you think they’d be interested? 

I was working with Frida already on The Green Carpet Challenge so it was a natural step.

You are clearly passionate about green issues. How much involvement have you personally had with the creation of the Gucci for the Green Carpet Challenge handbag? 

I followed the project every step of the way–working closely with both Dr. Nathalie Walker at NWF and Ms. Rossella Ravagli, head of CSR, at Gucci.

What has the reaction been to the bags? 

[They have been] a huge success!

The bags are made of leather sourced from Rainforest Alliance Certified ranches, meaning that the leather has been produced in a way that benefits the environment and farming communities, while promoting the humane treatment of livestock. How much did you know about the Rainforest Alliance before this venture? 

I knew them and what they were doing but never had the pleasure of working closely with them. It has been a great adventure and hopefully just the beginning of many more to do together!

What next for Eco-Age and the Green Carpet Challenge? 


We are announcing another big project at the Cannes Film Festival in May. I can’t reveal anything now but watch out for it!

Did you know that over 245,000 metric tons of coffee is produced on Rainforest Alliance Certified farms? Being Italian, how important is coffee to you? 

Coffee is very important–not only for Italians–but for world trade, too.  Colin and I have been very involved in coffee trading for many years; our first ever Oxfam trip was in Ethiopia to visit the coffee farmers! So I look forward to visiting the Rainforest Alliance Certified farms too!

Many thanks to Livia Firth for taking the time to chat with us!