Does Voluntary Governance Work? : Insights from Specialty Coffee
(2017)- Abstract
- Agricultural businesses contribute to sustainability problems, but they are also increasingly central to the effort to develop solutions. One way of moving toward sustainability is through regulatory governance. In this thesis, I analyze a tool of regulatory governance called voluntary market-based regulatory initiatives. Specifically, I investigate two types of initiatives, certification and disclosure, involving businesses and consumers in regulatory governance. I researched these types of initiatives by selecting the case of specialty coffee, which has high levels of acceptance, experience, and support of voluntary governance for sustainability initiatives. To study developing certification initiatives, I analyzed direct trade schemes... (More)
- Agricultural businesses contribute to sustainability problems, but they are also increasingly central to the effort to develop solutions. One way of moving toward sustainability is through regulatory governance. In this thesis, I analyze a tool of regulatory governance called voluntary market-based regulatory initiatives. Specifically, I investigate two types of initiatives, certification and disclosure, involving businesses and consumers in regulatory governance. I researched these types of initiatives by selecting the case of specialty coffee, which has high levels of acceptance, experience, and support of voluntary governance for sustainability initiatives. To study developing certification initiatives, I analyzed direct trade schemes in the US, Denmark, and Sweden over a period of several years. To study voluntary disclosure initiatives, I analyzed the widely-used sustainability reporting system from the Global Reporting Initiative, the reporting recommendations from a new multi-stakeholder initiative called the Sustainable Coffee Challenge, and the practice of sustainability reporting among specialty coffee roasters in North America.
My research indicates that voluntary market-based regulatory initiatives could contribute to governance for sustainability through involving businesses and consumers in governance, but that there are limitations. The limitations of this approach were showcased by the inability of US direct trade founders to enforce common definitions of direct trade due to the voluntary nature of the initiative and the inability or unwillingness of private actors to enforce definitions, in part due to perceived self-interest. This shows how such initiatives can have difficulty penalizing or using disincentives to inspire change. Direct trade scheme developments demonstrated the active inclusion of consumers within regulatory governance, but this active role was pushed on consumers rather than requested by consumers. In addition, there were indications of limitations of consumer skill in differentiating between regulatory schemes. Sustainability reporting among US specialty coffee roasters reveals poor conditions for empowerment through disclosure as disclosed information is not comprehensive, comparable, or useful because too few companies report and those that do report disclose information inconsistently. Collaboratively defined material topics, such as the goals and measurements defined within the Sustainable Coffee Challenge, do have the potential to improve the quality and usefulness of voluntary disclosures for governance, although it is too soon to say whether this has worked in practice. Finally, both voluntary certification and disclosure involving businesses focus on problem solving and avoid broader sustainability strategies such as substituting coffee with a more sustainable alternative or trying to decrease coffee consumption. (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- Jordbruket har en stor miljöbelastning, men är också alltmer centralt för att finna lösningar på hållbarhetsproblem. Ett angreppssätt för ökad hållbarhet är politisk styrning och reglering. I avhandlingen analyserar jag några frivilliga marknadsbaserade regleringar: certifiering och rapportering. Detta är regleringar som involverar företag och konsumenter. Jag har undersökt hur några sådana initiativ fungerar på en speciell typ av marknad, nämligen Specialty Coffee. Specialty coffee är kaffe av högsta kvalitet och är en marknad med lång erfarenhet av, samt acceptans och stöd för frivillig styrning och reglering. Som exempel på certifiering har jag studerat och jämfört direkthandelns (Direct Trade) utveckling under flera år i USA, Danmark... (More)
- Jordbruket har en stor miljöbelastning, men är också alltmer centralt för att finna lösningar på hållbarhetsproblem. Ett angreppssätt för ökad hållbarhet är politisk styrning och reglering. I avhandlingen analyserar jag några frivilliga marknadsbaserade regleringar: certifiering och rapportering. Detta är regleringar som involverar företag och konsumenter. Jag har undersökt hur några sådana initiativ fungerar på en speciell typ av marknad, nämligen Specialty Coffee. Specialty coffee är kaffe av högsta kvalitet och är en marknad med lång erfarenhet av, samt acceptans och stöd för frivillig styrning och reglering. Som exempel på certifiering har jag studerat och jämfört direkthandelns (Direct Trade) utveckling under flera år i USA, Danmark och Sverige. För att studera rapporteringsinitiativ har jag undersökt tre olika system, Global Reporting Initiative, Sustainable Coffee Challenge, och rapportering som tillämpas av Amerikanska specialrosterier.
Min forskning visar att frivilliga marknadsbaserade regleringar kan bidra till en ökad hållbarhet i begränsad omfattning genom att involvera företag och konsumenter i hållbarhetsstyrning. Men begränsningarna är flera. I USA misslyckades grundarna av Direct Trade att införa gemensamma definitioner av direkthandel, just på grund av initiativets frivilliga karaktär. Privata aktörers oförmåga eller ovilja att införa och efterleva definitioner berodde på egenintresse. Direkthandelns misslyckande i USA visar att avsaknad av tvingande regleringar har svårt att inspirera företagen till förändring. Det visade också att frivillig reglering som inte efterfrågats av konsumenter fungerade dåligt. Dessutom fanns det tecken på bristande kunskap hos konsumenter att skilja mellan direkthandel och konventionellt kaffe.
Hållbarhetsrapporteringen bland amerikanska specialrosterier visade sig fungera dåligt eftersom den information som rapporterades inte var heltäckande, jämförbar eller användbar, samt att för få företag rapporterade och dessutom inte rapporterade konsekvent.
Gemensamt framtagna definitioner, målsättningar och mätmetoder inom Sustainable Coffee Challenge har potential att förbättra kvaliteten och användbarheten hos frivillig rapportering. Men det är för tidigt att säga om detta kommer att fungera i praktiken.
Ytterst handlar både frivillig certifiering och rapportering om att lösa dagens tekniska problem, snarare än till långsiktiga strategier för att minska konsumtionen av kaffe eller kanske ersätta den med mera hållbara alternativ.
(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/1e0ffb7d-0b59-4c8c-bae1-4857991c040c
- author
- Macgregor, Finlay LU
- supervisor
- opponent
-
- Associate professor Lerpold, Lin, Stockholm School of Economics
- organization
- publishing date
- 2017
- type
- Thesis
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- regulatory governance, sustainability science, voluntary governance, certification, disclosure, sustainability reporting, coffee, Reglering och styrning, hållbarhetsvetenskap, frivillig reglering, certifiering, rapportering, kaffe
- pages
- 107 pages
- publisher
- Lund University
- defense location
- Ostrom, Josephson, Biskopsgatan 5, Lund
- defense date
- 2017-09-29 11:00:00
- ISBN
- 978-91-982201-4-8
- 978-91-982201-3-1
- project
- LUCID - Lund University Centre of Excellence for Integration of Social and Natural Dimensions of Sustainability
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 1e0ffb7d-0b59-4c8c-bae1-4857991c040c
- date added to LUP
- 2017-08-27 20:43:23
- date last changed
- 2019-04-15 14:31:18
@misc{1e0ffb7d-0b59-4c8c-bae1-4857991c040c,
abstract = {{Agricultural businesses contribute to sustainability problems, but they are also increasingly central to the effort to develop solutions. One way of moving toward sustainability is through regulatory governance. In this thesis, I analyze a tool of regulatory governance called voluntary market-based regulatory initiatives. Specifically, I investigate two types of initiatives, certification and disclosure, involving businesses and consumers in regulatory governance. I researched these types of initiatives by selecting the case of specialty coffee, which has high levels of acceptance, experience, and support of voluntary governance for sustainability initiatives. To study developing certification initiatives, I analyzed direct trade schemes in the US, Denmark, and Sweden over a period of several years. To study voluntary disclosure initiatives, I analyzed the widely-used sustainability reporting system from the Global Reporting Initiative, the reporting recommendations from a new multi-stakeholder initiative called the Sustainable Coffee Challenge, and the practice of sustainability reporting among specialty coffee roasters in North America.<br/><br/>My research indicates that voluntary market-based regulatory initiatives could contribute to governance for sustainability through involving businesses and consumers in governance, but that there are limitations. The limitations of this approach were showcased by the inability of US direct trade founders to enforce common definitions of direct trade due to the voluntary nature of the initiative and the inability or unwillingness of private actors to enforce definitions, in part due to perceived self-interest. This shows how such initiatives can have difficulty penalizing or using disincentives to inspire change. Direct trade scheme developments demonstrated the active inclusion of consumers within regulatory governance, but this active role was pushed on consumers rather than requested by consumers. In addition, there were indications of limitations of consumer skill in differentiating between regulatory schemes. Sustainability reporting among US specialty coffee roasters reveals poor conditions for empowerment through disclosure as disclosed information is not comprehensive, comparable, or useful because too few companies report and those that do report disclose information inconsistently. Collaboratively defined material topics, such as the goals and measurements defined within the Sustainable Coffee Challenge, do have the potential to improve the quality and usefulness of voluntary disclosures for governance, although it is too soon to say whether this has worked in practice. Finally, both voluntary certification and disclosure involving businesses focus on problem solving and avoid broader sustainability strategies such as substituting coffee with a more sustainable alternative or trying to decrease coffee consumption.}},
author = {{Macgregor, Finlay}},
isbn = {{978-91-982201-4-8}},
keywords = {{regulatory governance; sustainability science; voluntary governance; certification; disclosure; sustainability reporting; coffee; Reglering och styrning; hållbarhetsvetenskap; frivillig reglering; certifiering; rapportering; kaffe}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Licentiate Thesis}},
publisher = {{Lund University}},
title = {{Does Voluntary Governance Work? : Insights from Specialty Coffee}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/30697695/Finlay_MacGregor_Thesis_without_Paper_2.pdf}},
year = {{2017}},
}