ABSTRACT
Formalised ‘sustainable’ business practices have challenged a legacy of economic and production rate prioritisation for three or so decades. Despite these years of effort and substantial work to encourage advances, sustainability in trade practice appears on the surface as something of a new movement with some recently significant advances. The challenge of balancing industry requirements with social and environmental protection is intricate and as such progress toward improved outcomes is gradual. While continuous and consistent improvements emerge, various approaches of benefit and disadvantage are accepted and maintained toward improved sustainability. The business case often requires achieving sales and facilitating market entry for newly ‘sustainable’ products, which can distract from associated outcomes.
This chapter will explain how international trade has influenced societal and environmental outcomes. Codes of Conduct informed by Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Corporate Social Accountability (CSA) as foundational toward improving and correcting such influence is explained, and then sustainability certifications as a complementary mechanism. Their unique market and extra business position provision a significant level of influence in sustainable extraction, production and trade practice. A history of sustainability certifications provides more specific foundational understanding of somewhat humble beginnings, to the range of labels and certifications that currently operate, and increasing expectations that exist. Further information is provided for the certifications, labels and industries discussed in this book, and the chapters are summarised as an introduction to the content of the book.
