©IDOS
The Managing Global Governance (MGG) working strand on voluntary sustainability standards (VSS) checked all the boxes in its series of activities in November and December 2022.
The core purpose of the group is to bring together IDOS researchers, MGG alumni, partners from national standards bodies, the business sector and UN agencies to engage in transformative research on sustainability standards. The MGG allows the participation of experts from the Global South in shaping global governance. The meeting “VSS on Crossroads” was conducted on 25 and 26 October 2022 at the Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies. During this meeting, network members presented the MGG study on the digitalisation of VSS to curb food waste and loss in Brazil, the impacts of national platforms to the effectiveness of VSS and SDGs, and exchanged information on the current state of affairs in their countries and provided inputs to the upcoming establishment of the Indonesian National Platform on VSS. In addition, MGG contributed to the 5th UNFSS Flagship Report, which was launched on 26 Oct., 2022 at the Press Club in Brussels. Furthermore, the MGG co-hosted with the UNFSS, KU Leuven, Swiss SECO, EUI and FWO the UNFSS Academic Advisory Council Annual Meeting that was held on 27 and 28Oct. 2022 in Leuven. MGG sponsored the participation of 11 experts from the Global South to join the other 18 world leading experts in sustainability standards, due diligence and global trade. In this meeting, the MGG network presented its study on the role of VSS in Brazils “dirty sectors” (oil & gas, cement, aluminium, chemical and steel). Finally, the network ends its productive year with a webinar as an immediate follow-up meeting. The online meeting was conducted on 29 November 2022 through the invitation of the UNIDO Division of Fair Production, Sustainability Standards and Trade where the MGG and UNIDO identified opportunities for future collaboration.
