Global sustainability standards and food security: Exploring unintended effects of voluntary certification in palm oil

Abstract

Voluntary labelling and certification schemes have become increasingly used in global agro-food chains. They primarily aim at enhancing the sustainability of agricultural production processes. The global palm oil supply, the different environmental and social problems related to it, and the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certification clearly illustrate this. However, global sustainability standards may also have unintended impacts on food security and local development, which are not explicitly taken into account. This article explores the unnoticed effects of voluntary palm oil certification in Indonesia and Ghana and identifies their implications on local and national food provision. As voluntary labels and certification schemes are an emerging category of global governance instruments, their role in food security, as a global public good, should be taken seriously and connected to political and scientific debates on their future involvement in realizing food security.