ProTerra embraces mutual recognition of sustainability Standards and believes that synergies help at reducing costs of standard implementation and certification while reducing audit burden.
As such, the ProTerra Standard was benchmarked against ISCC standards and verified the findings with the benchmarking organisation. Specifically, the ProTerra Standard V4.1 was compared with:
- ISCC EU 202-1 Agricultural Biomass: ISCC Principle 1 Version 4 (valid from 1 July 2021);
- ISCC EU 202-2 Agricultural Biomass: ISCC Principles 2-6 Version 1.0 (valid from 1 January 2022); and
- ISCC 205 – 3 Non-GMO Food/Feed V 2.1 (valid from November 2018).
The results show relevant adherence between the ISCC-assessed standards and ProTerra 4.1, as shown in Figure 1 below.
ISCC-certified operators/stakeholders in the food supply chain have the possibility to certify against ProTerra, with a reduced audit time and a simplified complementary assessment.
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Figure 1 – ProTerra and ISCC benchmarking results
Benchmarking results
ISCC Standards considered in the benchmarking exercise have been fully aligned with the following ProTerra’s 4.1 Principles (meaning that all ProTerra requirements have been met):
- Principle 1 – Compliance with law and the ProTerra Standard;
- Principle 5 – No use of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO);
- Principle 6 – Pollution and waste management;
- Principle 7 – Water management;
- Principle 8 – Greenhouse gases and energy management, and
- Principle 10 – Traceability and Chain of Custody
The remaining ProTerra Principles have an alignment as follows:
- Principle 2 – Human Rights and responsible labour policies and practices: 88,37%
- Principle 3 – Responsible relations with workers and community: 83,33%
- Principle 4 – Biodiversity conservation, effective environmental management and environmental services: 92,86%
- Principle 9 – Adoption of good agricultural practices: 85,19%
Only 3 (three) core requirements have not been met by ISCC (core requirements must be fully met by an organisation if ProTerra certification is desired). These are:
- In locations where specific regulations do not cover maternity leave, certified organisations shall establish a reasonable leave period (2.11.3). No equivalence was found in ISCC. ProTerra recognizes that in the existence of maternity leave regulations in a given country no issues exist in relation to ISCC.
- The introduction of invasive species and new pests shall be avoided, past introductions must be controlled and monitored, and any invasive expansion of these shall be reported to the authorities (4.2.3). In relation to reporting to authorities on the presence of invasive species, no ISCC indicator could be found.
- Certified organisations shall adhere to quarantine periods, avoiding harvest until applied pesticide hazard for consumers is reduced to acceptable levels (9.7.7). ISCC has no indicator related to consumer risks.
A total of 13 (thirteen) non-core ProTerra indicators have not found equivalence or only found partial equivalence in ISCC.
