More than 150 company, non-profit and government stakeholders will come together in São Paulo on 23 September for ISEAL’s first major event focused on the trends and opportunities for sustainability standards in emerging markets.

In partnership with the UK and Swiss governments, along with its members in Brazil, ISEAL Alliance will be hosting a Global Sustainability Standards Symposium in São Paulo on 23 September. The event will focus on impacts and innovations in emerging markets and primarily be attended by businesses, but also include leaders and experts from NGOs, ISEAL members, local and national standard-setting organisations, government representatives and other stakeholders.

The invitation-only event is being held at the headquarters of the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo, FIESP. There will also be a pre-symposium workshop of ISEAL’s popular Sustainability Standards Essentials for Brazilian stakeholders. Both the event and the workshop will be held in both English and Portuguese.

The programme for the event features a range of expert speakers including leadership from WWF, GRI, Imaflora, Imazon, GoodWeave, Marfrig, Proforest, and the governments of Switzerland, the UK and Brazil.

The opening address by Dr. Alan Knight, Corporate Responsibility General Manager for ArcelorMittal (the multinational steel manufacturing company) will focus on building sustainable and transparent supply chains. Dr. Knight has more than 25 years working in sustainable development for companies and prior to his post with ArcelorMittal has worked for Virgin Group, SABMiller, Kingfisher and B&Q.

The closing address features insights from Brazilian biologist and top corporate sustainability leader Roberto Silva Waack who is currently Chairman of the Board of Amata S. A., a Brazilian forestry company and also a Board member for Global Reporting Initiative, Ethos Institute, and WWF Brazil. Mr. Waack is also former Board Chair of the Forest Stewardship Council.

Overall, the programme is focused on learning about trends and opportunities for sustainability standards and credible certification in emerging markets. Themes will focus on the impacts that credible standards and certification can have on supply chains, and how businesses can benefit from working with credible certification programmes.

While the attendance and speakers will have a significant focus on Brazil, there will also be speakers and attendees from China and Brazil to foster cross-learning among emerging economies. There will also be a range of participants from Europe, the US and Latin America.

For more information on the event, visit our special conference section of our web site (Portuguese version) or write to us at conference@isealalliance.org