A new two-month public consultation seeks input on ISEAL’s Sustainability Claims Good Practice Guide, revised to help sustainability systems navigate an increasingly complex claims landscape.
The Sustainability Claims Good Practice Guide was first published in 2015 and has been a stalwart document for ISEAL members ever since.
It supports sustainability systems in the development and management of policies and processes for controlling claims related to their standards.
The main intent of the guide is to improve the credibility of these claims, leading to increased trust and greater uptake of sustainable practices.
The evolving claims context
While the focus and intent of the Sustainability Claims Good Practice Guide remains the same, the environment in which it needs to be applied has changed over the last ten years.
A broader variety of claim types are being sought, with companies interested in communicating not just their alignment with the overall scheme requirements, but their progress on key sustainability issues.
For each type of claim a sustainability system owner allows, the appropriate processes need to be in place to substantiate and manage them.
Claims are also coming under increasing levels of public and regulatory scrutiny, with a cascade of related legislation being introduced around the globe.
While this is generally catching up with principles ISEAL has long had in place, some of the specificities for implementation do need additional consideration, including on the language used in a claim and the traceability systems that help substantiate the claim.
In March 2024, the ISEAL Code of Good Practice for Sustainability Systems came into effect, including a dedicated section on claims requirements.
To support sustainability systems to implement these criteria, and to reflect the evolving context in which we operate, ISEAL started work to revise the Sustainability Claims Good Practice Guide.
Take part in the consultation
Our two-month public consultation on the revised guidance launches in March.
We are seeking input from multiple stakeholders, including sustainability systems, companies, governmental representatives, NGOs and other experts working in this space, to help deliver an aligned, relevant and user-friendly guidance for credible sustainability claims.
A webinar launching the consultation and discussing key aspects of the guidance will be held on 10 April 2025.