Unveiling the Future: SSCI's Environmental Benchmark and Stakeholder Insights

The Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative (SSCI) benchmarks third-party sustainability auditing, monitoring, and certification standards against industry-developed criteria to provide trusted guidance on which standards cover key sustainability topics and operate responsibly. The SSCI currently operates a social benchmark and has been working since 2022 to expand its scope to environmental sustainability.

Following member and strategic partner development, and consultation from May to June 2023, we invited our community to a presentation in Copenhagen, Denmark, this October to showcase the SSCI’s new Environmental Benchmark criteria that will apply to schemes and programmes working in the Manufacturing & Processing; Primary Production; and Forestry sectors from early 2024.

The new Environmental Benchmark defines minimum requirements for how environmental certifications should operate. In demonstrating alignment with these criteria, standards will achieve further SSCI Recognition and join a list of trusted, credible standards. This helps ensure our industry has a clear and consistent set of expectations to follow and builds trust in environmental certifications.

As we celebrate a constructive consultation process and in-person showcase, our commitment to sustainability remains unwavering. Stay tuned for more updates and developments from SSCI. The official launch of the Environmental Benchmark is scheduled for early 2024, with the acceptance of applications for Recognition commencing at that time. 

To find out more about the work to date on the new Environmental Benchmark, and to sign up for updates including the results and responses to the recent consultation, visit our webpage here.

Thank you for being part of this significant milestone in our journey towards a more sustainable future!

Watch the video below to find out about the mission of SSCI