The Sustainability Consortium: A Stakeholder Approach to Improve Consumer Product Sustainability

Abstract

Consumers have become increasingly interested in sustainability, creating opportunities for businesses to position their products using environmental or social responsibility related information. This in turn has resulted in the widespread use of product claims, labels and other communication vehicles to deliver sustainability information to customers. To respond to this market demand, a unique industry, academic, governmental and NGO stakeholder collaborative organisation called The Sustainability Consortium (TSC) was formed in 2009. A primary objective of TSC is the development of a standardised framework for the communication of sustainability-related information throughout the product value chain. TSC’s sustainability measurement and reporting system (SMRS) will enable rigorous product-level LCAs to be done at a fraction of today’s time and cost, and provide a platform for sustainability-related data sharing across the supply chain. The SMRS will support ISO 14025 product claims, and is being developed with the principle of seeking to harmonise the world's leading environmental and social metrics, schemes and protocols that are currently being used by product manufacturers and suppliers.