How Fair Trade can stay strong as companies scale up their social and environmental programmes

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13169/jfairtrade.3.1.0054
• Published date: 01 September 2021
• Date: 01 September 2021
• Pages: 54-63
• Author: Edward Millard
• Subject Matter: Fair Trade,climate change,sustainable development goals,sustainability,company programmes,certification

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How Fair Trade can stay strong as companies scale up their social and

environmental programmes

Edward Millard

Edward Millard is Director, Landscapes and Communities, at Rainforest Alliance, facilitating business,

community and policy initiatives for economic development, social equity and environmental

conservation. He spent 14 years in Fair Trade with Oxfam GB and writes on lessons learnt from working

with tropical commodity producers and markets. The article is written in a personal capacity.

Abstract

The last five years have seen an increased scale of investment by companies in social and

environmental initiatives. They are responding to new international agreements designed to

eliminate poverty and conserve the natural environment to combat climate change and to a

stronger citizen voice pointing out how commodity production and trade impact people and

the planet and calling out companies that have damaging impacts. In this context of being

more rigorously held to account, companies are changing the way they interact with their

supply chains and making public commitments to deliver positive social and environmental

results from their operations, or at least to remove negative ones. The civil society and

certification organisations that advocate for poor people and nature now operate in a

more supportive but also more competitive environment, in which large companies that

control most commodity trade have developed their own programmes to deliver their

commitments. The article considers whether such programmes are meeting Fair Trade’s

mission and how the Fair Trade movement is adapting to the change. It concludes that,

despite the challenge to Fairtrade certification from company programmes, Fair Trade

remains as relevant as ever and can demonstrate that by focusing on the impact of its

achievements.

Keywords: Fair Trade; climate change; sustainable development goals; sustainability;

company programmes; certification

A Watershed Year

In 2015, two international inter-governmental agreements had an immediate and lasting impact on corporate

behaviour. In September, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) called for action to end poverty, protect

the planet and enable all people to enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030. Three months later, the Paris Climate

Agreement committed countries to limit the increase of global temperatures to below 2°C above pre-industrial

levels and strive to achieve an increase of not more than 1.5°C.

There had been a gradual build-up of international action to promote social and environmental

responsibility among companies, such as the 2011 UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights1

and the 2014 New York Declaration on Forests.2 For much longer, the Fair Trade movement and

campaigning organisations had brought to public attention the negative impacts on people and the planet

1 Retrieved from https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/big-issues/un-guiding-principles-on-business-human-rights/

2 Retrieved from https://forestdeclaration.org/