Standard Setting / Certification
Standard setting
Certification
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ESIA : a methodological tool created for the ethanol and sugar sector.
ESIA standards are divided into management standards and performance standards. Management standards are best practice benchmarks set for management procedures such as documentation or monitoring and evaluation.
Performance standards, on the other hand, set verifiable requirements for factors such as the abolishment of certain pesticides, or the availability of sanitary services. Setting international standards for corporate activity has proven to be very difficult due to the variety of circumstances that exist around the world.
This is especially true for agricultural practices, which have to respond to differences in climate, soils and eco-systems, and exist as an integral part of diverse cultures and societies.
Given this diversity, international environmental and social standards set by other organizations for the sugar/ethanol industry are often normative and generic in nature, i.e. guidelines to be used more as a framework than a strategy for better corporate social responsibility.
The aim of these social, communal and environmental standards in agriculture is not standardization per se, but to bring about the fullest and most appropriate type of sustainability given the variety of existing farming and agro-trade systems that exist within the sugar/ethanol industry.