Terms of Reference: Assessment of Legislative and Voluntary Sustainability Frameworks for Reporting on Landscape Action in Coffee
SourceUp team is looking for a consultant to explore and assess 10 of the main legislative and voluntary sustainability frameworks that are relevant to coffee companies.
Introduction
SourceUp is an online platform, developed by IDH, that connects buyers and other stakeholders in agri-commodity supply chains with landscape and jurisdictional initiatives (see below) in production areas. Through the platform buyers can identify investment opportunities and engage with landscape initiatives that match their priority commodities and sustainability targets. The platform is run by the SourceUp team, that sits in the IDH Landscapes Program. One of the main targets of the SourceUp team is improving the business case for companies to invest in landscape initiatives, by understanding how companies can claim back their investment through credible impact data.
On basis of these Terms of Reference (“ToR”), IDH aims to select a service provider to conduct a comprehensive assessment determining which legal and voluntary sustainability frameworks and standards recognize (and reward) company interventions in landscape initiatives, i.e. interventions in a certain commodity production area beyond supply chain which aim to target ecological and social conditions that landscape, through coordination between several stakeholders. The objective of the Assignment is to understand how companies can include the outcomes from these interventions in their sustainability reporting and corporate compliance, thus improving the business case for companies to engage in landscape approaches.
In this context, SourceUp team is looking for a consultant to explore and assess 10 of the main legislative and voluntary sustainability frameworks that are relevant to coffee companies. The consultant will perform desk-based assessment of these frameworks and reach out to the standard setters if further clarification is needed, to perform the following activities:
- Categorize these frameworks into the following categories based on their objective and type of data required: risk mitigation (e.g. CSDDD), reporting a specific performance level (e.g. CDP), or meeting a set of requirements (e.g. SBTi). Categories can be further discussed and finetuned in discussion with SourceUp.
- Determine for each framework if it references a type of engagement in area-based (multi-stakeholder) approaches
Objectives of the Assignment
The overall objective of this assignment is to assess how (legislative and voluntary) sustainability frameworks enable companies to report on sustainability interventions targeting ecological and social conditions in a landscape (beyond supply chain). The assessment should focus on different sustainability themes that are especially relevant for coffee companies, such as carbon emissions (scope 3), water, deforestation, farmer income, etc.
At the end of this assessment, we expect the consultant to have designed an easy-to-use overview (tool) of the different frameworks, whether and how they reference Landscape Initiatives or other area-based, multi-stakeholder sustainability approaches, and an overview of the specific indicators per sustainability theme.
Selection Procedure
IDH is requesting the service providers to hand in a proposal (excluding company biographies, CVs, sample work and references). The proposal must be handed in a MS Word or PowerPoint version next to a PDF submission to facilitate any copy-and-pasting of content that we may need during evaluation.
The proposal must be submitted to Rommy Sterckx at sterckx@idhtrade.org before Wednesday 11 June at 9 am.
Access the full Terms of Reference here
Find below the Annexes:
Annex 1- IDH General Terms and Conditions
Annex 2 - Letter of Assignment (Detail Request Form)
Annex 4 - Questions from Template