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Assessing the Effects of Certification Networks on Sustainable Production and Consumption: The Cases of FLO and FSC

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Abstract

Private governance approaches to foster sustainability have gained importance in recent years. The article focuses on such approaches that involve actors from different parts of the value chain, as well as consumers, labour unions, and NGOs. As these approaches rely on the certification mechanism to document the adherence to environmental and social standards, we refer to them as “certification networks.” The main objective of these networks is to realize more sustainable production and consumption patterns from within existing market structures. Concerning their impact on sustainability, however, existing research revealed mixed results. This raises the question, how to systematically assess the success of certification networks. Referring to debates on private governance, this paper proposes to consider structural–material (e.g., altered market and incentive structures) and regulative–normative effects (e.g., altered institutions). Taking this broader perspective, two cases are analysed: The Fairtrade Labelling Organization and the Forest Stewardship Council.

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Notes

  1. While political consumption means doing politics through the market, sustainable consumption (apart from further differences) includes, besides other conceptual differences, further pathways of goal attainment, e.g., state regulation or technological innovations.

  2. However, both certification networks have shown signs of broadening their original objectives in recent years: The FLO is now showing a stronger orientation towards environmental standards (e.g., reduction of pesticides), while the FSC is also taking social standards into account (e.g., adoption of all eight core labour standards of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in the FSC’s accredited certification standard).

  3. Expressed in simple terms, the negotiations were blocked in the wake of controversies along the North–South divide. Industrialized nations like the US and Canada argued within a discourse on “global responsibility” as well as the “shared inheritance of mankind” (Dingwerth 2007, p. 145). Developing countries insisted on their national sovereignty and were strictly opposed to binding regulatory approaches without additional financial compensation.

  4. In the words of a FSC critic: “…the main result has been to boost the comparative advantages of temperate forests on the timber marketplace. (…) Conclusion: If you feel you must have FSC certified timber, buy Scandinavian, Eastern European and North American Wood, not tropical wood. If that is not a boycott, it bears a close resemblance” (Smouts 2002, cited in Dingwerth 2007, p. 154).

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Acknowledgements

The article greatly benefited from the comments of two referees and the editors of this special issue. We are also grateful to Ines Weller for her helpful comments on an earlier version of this article. Furthermore, we would like to thank the participants of the workshop “Systems of Provision & Industrial Ecology”, which was organized by the Center for Sustainability Research (artec) in summer 2008, for their advice. Finally, translation and language editing support from Fraunhofer ISI and artec is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Competence Center Sustainability and Infrastructure Systems, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research, Breslauer Str. 48, 76139, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Carsten Gandenberger

  2. Research Center for Sustainability Studies (artec), University of Bremen, Enrique-Schmidt-Str. 7, 28359, Bremen, Germany

    Heiko Garrelts

  3. Ministry for Environment, Construction, Transport and European Affairs of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, Ansgaritorstr. 2, 28195, Bremen, Germany

    Diana Wehlau

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Gandenberger, C., Garrelts, H. & Wehlau, D. Assessing the Effects of Certification Networks on Sustainable Production and Consumption: The Cases of FLO and FSC. J Consum Policy 34, 107–126 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10603-011-9155-8

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