Looking to upscale your sustainable engagement along with like-minded frontrunners in the fresh fruit and vegetables sector? Then the Sustainability Initiative Fruit and Vegetables (SIFAV) is the right platform for you. At SIFAV, we aim to drive sustainability within global supply chains, with a focus on reducing the environmental footprint, improving working conditions, wages and incomes, and strengthening due diligence reporting and transparency.

Benefits of joining SIFAV

By uniting companies around joint goals and ambitions and setting sector-wide approaches, SIFAV is driving action in supply chains. Thus making it possible for you to gain speed and efficiency in your sustainability journey. Also, joining SIFAV will give you the opportunity to learn from other companies, access jointly developed tools and policies ultimately leading to cost savings and efficiency gains.

SIFAV Programs

Under SIFAV, all private sector partners commit to the following common sustainability targets within the three SIFAV programs towards 2025:

Environmental:  To work together with their supply chain partners to measure and reduce the environmental footprint of priority products by 2025, amongst others:

  • 25% carbon footprint reduction in three priority products;
  • 25% food loss and waste reduction in three priority products;
  • Reduction of water use to best practice levels in 3 jointly selected catchments;
  • Implementation of water standards (third-party verification) for 70% of volume from high water risk countries. Click here to download the SIFAV list of high water risk regions.

Social:

  • Implementation of jointly approved social third-party verification, to at least 90% of volume coming from high- and medium-risk countries by 2025. Click here for the SIFAV risk country classification.
  • Taking a first step in improving Living Wages or Living Income, by analysing living wage and living income gaps in one of their supply chains and if possible, also making a commitment towards reducing these gaps.

Due Diligence:

  • Implementing robust Human Rights and Environmental supply chain due diligence policies and processes according to OECD and UN Guidelines.
  • Jointly and individually reporting on risks and progress on an annual basis from 2022 onward.

The SIFAV Baskets of Standards

  • SIFAV Basket of Social Standards

    Promoting the verification of good labour conditions on farms

    More info
  • SIFAV Basket of Water Standards

    Improving water management in high water risk regions

    More info

Partners of SIFAV

SIFAV is coordinated by IDH, the Sustainable Trade Initiative. Since its foundation in 2012, SIFAV has grown into a pan-European initiative with more than 40 partners, among them retailers, brands, traders, civil society organizations and other supporting parties.

Click here to see our partners at a glance

SIFAV projects

Within the SIFAV 2020 program, in total more than 40 different international projects have been implemented by the SIFAV-partners, covering a broad variety of topics with regards to sustainability – including for example health and safety, block farming, good environmental agricultural practices and gender equality, just to mention a few. In total more than 17 million euro was invested in these projects, including co-funding by IDH. Click on the world map below for more information on a selection of projects around the globe.

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World map

The SIFAV Steering Committee

Meet the members of the SIFAV Steering Committee. The Committee guides the activities of the initiative and is comprised of eight representatives of the SIFAV partners.

  • Stefanie Vermaesen

    SIFAV Chair & Senior Advisor Sustainable Business, Nature’s Pride

  • Pete Pearson

    Senior Director, Food Loss and Waste, WWF

  • Leon Mol

    Director Product Safety & Social Compliance, Ahold Delhaize

  • Jeroen Kroezen

    Corporate Partnership Manager, Solidaridad

  • Sonia Cordera

    Chair of the Roadmap on Living Wages Steering Committee; Deputy Director at IDH

  • André G. Boer

    Lead Buyer Fruit and Vegetables, C.I.V. Superunie B.A.

  • Karen Janssens

    Expert Sustainable Sourcing, Colruyt Group

  • Maria Oliveira

    Sustainability Manager, Primeale United

  • Frederic Rosseneu

    Corporate Business Development Manager, Greenyard Group

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