In focus:
sustainability standards
A closer look at the sustainability standards
in the sectors we spotlight in this summary report,
covering key commodities and forestry.
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TOTAL AREA CERTIFIED
2019
Organic covered the largest variety of agricultural products and the largest area certified: 72.1 million hectares, 1.5% of all agricultural land worldwide.
2015 - 2019
The area of all sustainability standards expanded by double digits, except organic, which grew by 9%, and 4C, which recorded a decline of 41.1%. Single-sector standards reported the largest area growth (BCI, CmiA, and Bonsucro).
2018-2019
Again, area growth was greatest for single-sector standards (Bonsucro, BCI, RSPO). Six standards experienced a decline in area certified, with the largest decline reported for 4C.
Total area certified by sustainability standard, 2019
Note: This figure shows the total area certified by VSS, including all commodities each VSS certifies, hence going beyond the eight commodities examined in this report. For organic, the reported number also includes permanent grazing areas, which account for over two-thirds of the total area certified.
RANKING STANDARDS BY NUMBER OF PRODUCERS
2019: Organic has the most producers: 3.1 million.
However, Fairtrade, BCI and Rainforest Alliance, which certified significantly smaller areas than organic, also had relatively high numbers of producers.
Note: Most sustainability standards presented in this report focus on the Global South, where smallholders prevail. Organic is prominent globally, including countries where large farms dominate, such as Australia and the United States. In addition, producer data for organic is incomplete for many countries.
Area certified and producers by agricultural standard, 2019
Note: This table shows the total area certified by VSS, including all commodities each VSS certifies, hence going beyond the eight commodities examined in this report. For organic, the reported number also includes permanent grazing areas, which account for over two-thirds of the total area certified.
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SECTOR TRENDS
Forestry: PEFC outpaces FSC
2019
As in previous years, PEFC’s certified forest area exceeded that of FSC.
2019
Number of chain-of-custody (CoC) certificate holders: FSC, 42,115; PEFC 11,984.
SINGLE-SECTOR STANDARDS DOMINATE
Standards that target mainstream adoption within a specific sector largely drive growth and market uptake. Single-commodity standards (coffee, cotton, forestry, oil palm, sugarcane and soy) have the largest area for their specific crops.
Multiple-commodity standards may have lower coverage because of their wider scope, particularly for organic agriculture. Multiple-commodity standards are gaining importance in coffee, sugarcane and soybeans. UTZ remained the most important certifier in the cocoa sector and Rainforest Alliance in tea, where no single-commodity standards have been developed. As Rainforest Alliance and UTZ merged in 2018, they may dominate not only cocoa and tea, but also coffee in the future.
Area harvested by agricultural standard and commodity, 2019
Note: This figure shows the area certified by VSS for the eight selected agricultural commodities.
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