In July 2020, India presented its second Voluntary National Review (VNR) of the progress with pursuing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), at the UN High level Political Forum on the SDGs. This report developed by NITI Aayog, also attempted to highlight private sector contribution to SDGs in India – highlighting some of the pathways used and various approaches/tools/initiatives of the private sector contributing to the national aspiration to leave no one behind^[1]. The report recognises and mentions the contribution of VSS as a critical and effective tool often used by the private sector to plan and assess their impact on some of the important SDG targets. While awareness among sustainability professionals and businesses have increased to a certain extent about VSS and their usefulness in assessing sustainability performance on businesses, there is still a long way to go for wider adoption of these market-driven tools.

VSS are requirements that manufacturers, investors, retailers or companies are expected to follow to source, produce, and sell in a sustainable manner. They are a voluntary set of standards which provides a framework for measuring or auditing the social and environmental aspect of business’ performance.

For almost two years, CRB has been convening more than twenty VSS organisations working across various domains and sectors in India with the aim to foster better awareness/understanding among them and explore ways for coordinated activities/initiatives (https://www.c4rb.org/vss). This session would bring together these VSS organisations to interface with international experts, policymakers, and businesses.

[1] https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/26281VNR_2020_India_Report.pdf