ISEAL: Due diligence regulations are reshaping sustainability

In this moment, a smart mix of regulatory and voluntary measures, along with investment, will be essential to mainstreaming sustainability, to the benefit of all.

These urgent messages drove work at today's ISEAL Global Sustainability Symposium 2024. Through expert insights, discussion and networking, attendees discussed what effective due diligence partnerships will look like, and the roles different actors will play to achieve sustainability goals.

Reinforcing the importance of today's conversation, Karin Kreider, Executive Director, ISEAL, said, "ISEAL prides itself on supporting and challenging sustainability systems and their partners to achieve bigger sustainability impacts."

"Today, we have welcomed a wide breadth of debate, helping guide the future for the wider sustainability movement we are all a part of."

"With new corporate due diligence requirements for social and environmental issues coming into force, how they will be implemented is utmost on the agenda for people here."

"We are delighted to see how engaged attendees are with these themes, and how powerful today's dialogues have been."

Reshaping behaviour for decades to come

Around the world we are seeing new regulations, that are putting the onus on companies to report on their sustainability due diligence, their green claims and other impacts they are making.

"Now is a game-changing moment for the sustainability movement," Karin said. "The pressure is on for companies and their partners to succeed."

"Today, the ISEAL Global Sustainability Symposium brought key corporate stakeholders together with policy makers and sustainability systems, to define the future for years ahead."

Richard Howitt, Strategic Advisor on Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability, Business and Human Rights and former MEP, was keynote speaker at today's event.

"ISEAL is ahead of the game, but how do you stay ahead of the game? That future will involve Gen Z, the rise of ESG investment, CSR and due diligence," Richard said.

"On a personal level, it will involve everyone included in this global movement, because what we are all advocating for is progress, and for a focus on people because we are all struggling."

Fostering a more sustainable business environment

Analysing some key themes from today's Symposium, Richard notes that conditions to hasten work on business sustainability are becoming more favourable.

"With due diligence, we must celebrate what has just happened in Europe, and it's not just Europe; it's all around the world," he continued.

"Of course, there is plenty of hard work still to do. We must look at the differences between a compliance approach and a development approach, and the choice of how this is implemented.

"Much of this is about such polarities of power, but of course it is also about standardisation, what is there for us with moving toward system change – and how successful will that be?"

Game-changing new realities

"Voluntary standards have made a significant contribution to more sustainable production systems," said Ambassador Ivo Germann, Head of the Foreign Economic Affairs Directorate, Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).

"We are convinced that they will continue to play an important role in the implementation of new public sustainability regulations in the future too."

"Switzerland advocates for a 'smart mix' of mandatory and voluntary mechanisms to drive more sustainable production that leaves no one behind," he concluded.

The 2024 ISEAL Global Sustainability Symposium is hosted with generous support from the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). 

Notes:

ISEAL supports ambitious sustainability systems and their partners to tackle the world's most pressing challenges. With a focus on credible practices, we advance scalable and effective solutions that make a lasting impact. Through our work to drive collective efforts, we make markets a force for good.

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