Sector Director Sarah Lewis and Development Manager Marco Ugarte discuss the impact of the Food Beverage and Agriculture (FBA) Sector on the development of The Sustainability Consortium (TSC) in Latin America and around the globe.
As the discussion around sustainability and the environment come to a close at
Rio + 20, The Sustainability Consortium continues forward with its mission of the design and implementation of credible transparent and scalable science-based measurement and reporting systems. A large focus of TSC in 2012 has been in the Food, Beverage and Agriculture industry. In fact, nearly 45 percent of the categories being covered by The Sustainability Consortium’s ‘Sustainability Measurement and Reporting System’ Level 1 Knowledge Products in 2012 belong to the FBA sector.
“The FBA Sector is focused on developing the Sustainability Measurement and Reporting System and is currently developing Category Sustainability Profiles (CSP) and Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for product categories related to grains, beef, milk, packaged cereal, beer, bread, farmed salmon, wine, and cotton. KPIs are questions that focus on the scientifically-based hotspots and improvement opportunities for a particular product category, thus providing communication tools that focus buyer and supplier conversations around doing things that matter about things that matter across the life cycle of a consumer product, thus providing opportunities to improve product sustainability across the value chain,” said Sarah Lewis, Sector Director and Manager of the Food, Beverage and Agriculture Sector at The Sustainability Consortium.
The industry played a large role in the decision for TSC to grow globally – in Latin America and Chile in particular where agriculture makes up 13.2 percent of the workforce and 5.1 percent of GDP. This compares to the United States were only 1.2 percent of GDP is in agriculture and 0.7 percent of the work force is employed by agriculture jobs. The substantial importance of the agriculture industry across the globe allows many organizations to benefit from TSC’s Knowledge Products throughout their entire industry. “Member companies such as MOM Brands provide leadership and guidance on developing the content and the feasibility of the components of the SMRS, and demonstrate ways that the CSPs and KPIs can be incorporated and leveraged within business models to increase innovation and improve product sustainability, said Lewis.
By partnering with Fundacion Chile, TSC has expanded its scope of work to include the detailed assessment of product categories including wine, milk, blueberries, avocado, and grapes. Regional expertise from the agricultural sector is critical to timely contribute to the development of Category Sustainability Profiles. Strategic partnerships such as the one with Fundación Chile, not only provide a better understanding of local challenges and opportunities, but significantly contribute to the overall scientific advancement of the FBA sector knowledge products that have a global reach throughout our membership.
This post can also found in Bag The Box ® blog hosted by Mom Brands, a member of The Consortium.
About The Sustainability Consortium
The Sustainability Consortium (TSC) is an independent organization of diverse global participants that work collaboratively to build a scientific foundation that drives innovation to improve consumer product sustainability. TSC develops transparent methodologies, tools, and strategies to drive a new generation of products and supply networks that address environmental, social, and economic imperatives.
The Sustainability Consortium advocates for a credible, scalable, and transparent process and system. The organization boasts over 90 members from all corners of business employing over 57 million people and whose combined revenues total over $1.5 Trillion. Arizona State University and the University of Arkansas legally administer The Sustainability Consortium, with additional operations at Wageningen University in The Netherlands. Learn more at www.sustainabilityconsortium.org.
Media Contact:
Elizabeth Kessler, Marketing Coordinator
The Sustainability Consortium
Arizona State University
[email protected] | 480.965.3810