Floriculture Sustainability Initiative announces industry commitment to 90% sector sustainability

Over fifty industry leaders in the floriculture sector have committed to having 90% of their flowers and pot plants responsibly sourced by 2020. The Floriculture Sustainability Initiative (FSI) announced this on its 2015 General Assembly in Germany last week. FSI brings together growers, traders and retailers to create a lasting sustainable impact on the sector as a whole. This commitment is a big step to mainstreaming sustainability in the floriculture sector.

The FSI is an initiative of IDH (the sustainable trade initiative). In 2013, NewForesight was asked by IDH to facilitate the development and implementation of the idea for a sustainability initiative in the floriculture sector. At the time, the sector had seen some sustainability initiatives, but sustainability was still far from being mainstream. There were barriers to making the sector as a whole sustainable, especially the fact that there were thirteen different sustainability standards proved to be an obstacle. What was needed was one global vision and uniform standard for and by the industry.

The sector decided to come together on pre-competitive grounds to find a way to mainstream sustainability into their production, trade and retail processes. NewForesight facilitated this by bringing together the different parties to develop a vision and business plan for 2013-2015. A tool for the comparison of flower standards was developed, as well as a governance and working structure. The current industry commitment towards 90% flowers and pot plants sustainably produced and traded by FSI members by 2020 is a result that counts as a milestone for the industry. NewForesight is very pleased to see sustainable market transformation at work and very proud to have been part of this achievement.