Remarks by the Executive Director at the GS1 Global Forum

Thank you for the invitation to speak with you today on the topic of sustainability in supply chains.

My message is simple: supply chains will become increasingly sustainable or they will not be since this is what consumers are demanding more and more all around the world.

And the answer is equally clear: strong partnerships to support this sustainability.

My suggestion is for the International Trade Center and Global Standard 1 to join efforts to support sustainability of supply chains, focusing to start with on agriculture value chains for the benefit of both end consumers and smallholder producers.

A few words about how the International Trade Centre. ITC is a development organisation that focuses supporting developing countries trade. ITC is uniquely positioned to do this. As an agency of both the World Trade Organisation and the United Nations, its mandate is to ensure that trade opportunities become trade and development realities.

ITC is about practical solutions. We focus on addressing obstacles to trade on the ground and using evidence based research we work in-country, with trade support institutions and SMEs to ensure trade is a conduit for growth and job creation. From women’s economic empowerment to private standards and from market intelligence to SME competitiveness, ITC builds from the marketplace and works backwards. What do I mean by this? Essentially supply means little without demand.

We work with the market to understand the demand and ensure that the supply is aligned to meet these requirements. And we do this along the whole value chain, from product development to marketing and branding, from ensuring a facilitative business environment to promoting transparency of customs procedures.

ITC has 6 core areas of work:

1- Providing trade and market intelligence;
2- Building a conducive business environment;
3- Strengthen Trade and Investment Support Institutions;
4- Enabling SMEs to connect to international markets;
5- Support regional integration and South-South linkages:
6- And finally, we promote and mainstream inclusive and sustainable trade, mainly by working with companies to adopt sustainable practices and integrate sustainability information into what they trade.

The trade landscape of 2016 is a very different one from fifty years ago when ITC was born. Today it is about "trade in tasks". It is about the fragmentation of production along value chains, which provide an easier entry to the global market place. But being part of this marketplace also comes with requirements such as quality or safety standards, as well as expectations that trade will contribute to wider societal goals such as sustainability, respect for labour and human rights or preservation of our biodiversity to name a few.

More and more the consumer is demanding better understanding of the matrix behind the products and services that they purchase and consume. And increasingly larger companies with their wide network of suppliers need better tools to fully understand and support the farmers and producers with their supply chain. From farm to plate has become more than a slogan. It is now a movement.

It is becoming increasingly clear that if supply chains are not sustainable then the anticipated trade and development impact will also not be sustainable. Sustainability in consumption is becoming the norm not only in rich markets but also in emerging and developing ones. This is something that not only citizens, consumers or producers want but also that governments and the UN itself has committed to in the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

These 17 goals are universal in meaning and specific SDGs reference the importance of ensuring sustainable supply chains such as SDG 2 on sustainable agriculture and food security, SDG 8 as it relates to decent work and SDG 12 in promoting sustainable consumption and production.

Today’s world is not only about connecting farmers to fast growing markets, but also to those which offer greater longer term earnings and better resilience in time. The organic market globally, for example, reached the US$ 80 billion mark in 2014 (up from $72 billion in 2013).

The uptake of voluntary or private sustainability standards and codes of conduct is seeing tremendous growth in large companies. For example Unilever committed to source 100 percent of agricultural raw materials sustainably by 2020. On the other side if we look at recent consumption patterns, 66 percent of global consumer respondents in a recent Nielsen survey (2015) say they would pay extra for products and services from companies that are committed to positive social and environmental impact; this is up from 55% in 2014, 50% in 2013 and 38% in 2011. The “conscious” consumer has emerged as a powerful force. This type of consumer wants more information on the origins of the goods and services they buy. This has created a ripple effect throughout supply chains, creating a greater demand for sustainably produced commodities.

For all these reasons you understand why it makes so much sense for ITC and GS1 to partner. This is why our joint initiative, the Blue Number, is a win-win proposition.

GS1 through the bar code technology, in particular with the Global Location Number (GLN), has developed a fantastic infrastructure connecting enterprises through a common interoperability language along supply chains, either at the local, regional or global level. You help us better connect and trace value chains.

ITC as a global development agency focusing on trade led growth brings to this partnership a strong sustainability dimension and network. This is why we have a "Trade for Sustainable Development" suite of tools helping companies chart their path to more sustainable trade. We help you add a sustainability dimension to your work.

Through the Blue Number initiative we both work to ensure more sustainable trade contributes to development and poverty reduction.

This partnership works for producers, in particular small farmers, allowing them to better target and access greater value added markets. And it works for buyers by providing them with more transparency on what is happening along the supply chains, back to the initial farmers.

The Blue Number Initiative provides farmers with a number embedded in a GLN containing a full set of information on sustainability criteria. A kind of “GLN+” capturing the sustainability practices of each link along the supply chain.

In concrete terms the Blue Number is linked to an online profile that contains the farmer’s name, gender, product, and email address or mobile number. Once the farmer is a part of the registry, he or she has access to a sustainability marketplace. They are able to connect with other trading partners, global buyers and share with them their sustainability achievements. Think of it as a social networking platform, but for farmers.

Having a Blue Number gives individual farmers visibility in global supply chains. They automatically receive access to resources that enable them to produce more sustainably. This tool gives the farmers autonomy over what information they share and who they will connect with. It widens their networks.

This initiative will also help multinational buyers, as it provides improved traceability of their globally spanning value chains. The data gained from the Blue Number Initiative will help them to make informed purchasing decisions, such as identifying women-owned farms with whom to trade.

It also provides governments with data- big data- that can better inform policies ranging from women’s economic empowerment to land registry issues and from food security to quality standards.

As we speak, more than sixty thousand farmers have accepted the invitation to receive a Blue Number. We hope to scale this up over the coming months and to launch the marketplace giving visibility to these farmers before the summer.

So, in conclusion, I would like to see us working together to ensure hundreds of thousands of farmers sign up to the Blue Number Initiative. I would like us to work together to foster greater sustainability, traceability, and impact of supply chains. My specific request today would be for the GS1 Membership Organisations in the audience to encourage farmers and agribusinesses in your countries to sign up for a Blue Number.

Thank you.