• Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative

    Building trust in social and environmental sustainability standards worldwide

Supporting companies in their corporate due diligence practices

Global supply chains are under increasing pressure to demonstrate ethical and sustainable practices. However, with hundreds of auditing, monitoring, and certification programmes on the market, each with a different scope, level of rigour, and governance, it is difficult for organisations to know which scheme to use. This can result in audit fatigue, increased costs and fragmented efforts on key issues like labour rights, health and safety, and environmental protection.

Assessing sustainability standards against defined benchmark criteria

This process offers businesses clearer and more comparable information to inform independent sourcing and sustainability decisions, while maintaining diversity of approaches and competitive choice among programmes.

Assessing sustainability standards against defined benchmark criteria

Our governance

The steering committee's mission is to shape the SSCI’s strategy and drive its development.

Our focus areas

  • Benchmarking process

    Benchmarking process

    Discover our benchmarking process, social and environmental scopes and benchmarking criteria.

  • Recognised schemes

    Recognised schemes

    Discover SSCI Recognised schemes and track those currently in the benchmarking process.

  • Thought leadership and key partners

    Thought leadership and key partners

    Drives discussions on ethical sourcing practices, at-sea operations, regenerative agriculture and human rights due diligence in supply chains.

Our achievements

  • 2026

    75% of all social audits globally have gone through the SSCI benchmarking process.

  • February 2026

    SSCI standards now represent 80% of the global flower trade.

  • November 2025

    Florverde® Sustainable Flowers (FSF) became the first certification scheme to apply for benchmarking against the SSCI’s Environmental Benchmark Criteria.

  • June 2024

    Launch of Environmental Benchmark.

  • October 2021

    BRCGS, the first scheme to achieve SSCI Recognition, benchmarked against the SSCI’s Processing & Manufacturing and Primary Production scopes.

  • May 2021

    Opening of Social Benchmark to Fishing; Agriculture and Aquaculture Sectors with new At-Sea Operations and Primary Production scopes.

  • October 2019

    Launch of the first Social Benchmark scope for Manufacturing and Processing Sector.

  • April 2019

    Launch of the Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative.

Our resources

  • Response to stakeholder's comments on the SSCI benchmarking process v2

  • Response to stakeholder's comments on environmental sustainability criteria

  • Response to stakeholder's comments on draft primary production environmental criteria v1

Meet the team

Our latest news

Latest news

  1. Public consultation opens for Fairtrade International’s SSCI benchmarking assessment

    Public consultation opens for Fairtrade International’s SSCI benchmarking assessment

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  2. Florverde® Sustainable Flowers secures the SSCI’s first-ever recognition under the environmental benchmark

    Florverde® Sustainable Flowers secures the SSCI’s first-ever recognition under the environmental benchmark

    See more
  3. Securing the harvest: The International Seed Federation joins the Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative (SSCI)

    Securing the harvest: The International Seed Federation joins the Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative (SSCI)

    See more

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