Voluntary Sustainability Certifications: What is the Point?

A COMMENTARY ON J. Grabs (2020), Selling Sustainability Short? The Private Governance of Labor and the Environment in the Coffee Sector (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

ABSTRACT: Voluntary sustainability certifications aim to achieve human rights objectives and sustainable development goals by creating rigorous standards, enforcing them, and labeling the resulting products as “ethical.” Tens of thousands of workers depend on certifications for decent wages, equitable opportunities, and safe working conditions. If certifications do not achieve these goals and reforming them is resource intensive and highly improbable, what is the point?