How Fair Trade can stay strong as companies scale up their social and environmental programmes

Abstract

The last five years have seen an increased scale of investment by companies in social and environmental initiatives. They are responding to new international agreements designed to eliminate poverty and conserve the natural environment to combat climate change and to a stronger citizen voice pointing out how commodity production and trade impact people and the planet and calling out companies that have damaging impacts. In this context of being more rigorously held to account, companies are changing the way they interact with their supply chains and making public commitments to deliver positive social and environmental results from their operations, or at least to remove negative ones. The civil society and certification organisations that advocate for poor people and nature now operate in a more supportive but also more competitive environment, in which large companies that control most commodity trade have developed their own programmes to deliver their commitments. The article considers whether such programmes are meeting Fair Trade's mission and how the Fair Trade movement is adapting to the change. It concludes that, despite the challenge to Fairtrade certification from company programmes, Fair Trade remains as relevant as ever and can demonstrate that by focusing on the impact of its achievements.