Evaluation of sustainability standards in the product groups leather, textiles, detergents and cleaning agents

In 2013, the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) was commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) with the project "Quality check of sustainability standards". The aim of the project was to provide consumers, public authorities, companies and civil society with access to an internationally agreed methodology for monitoring and evaluating the performance and credibility of sustainability standards. The analysis tool reviews both sustainability standards in production processes (e.g. standards, such as fair trade and FSC) as well as standard systems focussing on product properties (e.g. labels such as the Blue Angel and the EU ecolabel). The comparative and evaluation methodology looks both at the substantive aspects (ecological and socio-economic dimension) as well as at the system-related aspects (covering areas such as standardization process, control systems, and the planning of management arrangements). Within this project, Oeko-Institut scientifically supported GIZ with data collection and evaluation of substantive criteria (environmental and social compatibility) of two leather standards (IVN and Blue Angel), a textile standard (updated IVN standard), as well as a standard for detergents and cleaning agents (NCP Nature Care Product) on the basis of the valuation scale that has been developed in the context of the "Quality check of sustainability standards" project in 2016. The assessment results were published on the consumer portal www.siegelklarheit.de.