Rainforest Alliance & Fairtrade
In today's conscientious consumer landscape, choosing sustainably sourced products has become a paramount concern for many. Two widely recognized certifications, Rainforest Alliance and Fairtrade, vie for attention on grocery store shelves, each promising to contribute to a better, more sustainable world. While both initiatives share a commitment to environmental and social responsibility, they differ in their approaches and focus areas. This article aims to explore the nuances between Rainforest Alliance and Fairtrade certifications, shedding light on the impact these labels have on the products we choose.
WHATS DOES IT MEAN?
12/12/20231 min read
Readers may well be used to seeing the Rainforest Alliance frog, and Fairtrade waving silhouette on many household items up and down food isles across the globe. However, what do these certifications mean, and how do they differ?
Rainforest Alliance is renowned for primarily focussing on environmental sustainability and places an emphasis on its farmers conserving and regenerating natural ecosystems. As such, you can be sure that purchasing products or ingredients bearing the Rainforest Alliance frog will have been produced subject to stringent environmental requirements.
Whilst Fairtrade engages in similar initiatives, aiming to promote a ‘holistic blend’ of sustainability criteria, it prioritises social responsibility over environmental sustainability - it aims to 'support the sustainable development of small producer organisations and agricultural workers in developing countries’ (https://www.fairtrade.net/standard). Initiatives such as minimum price caps ensure that products and ingredients bearing the Fairtrade silhouetted person are therefore produced subject to stringent anthropological social requirements.
The purpose of this piece has not been to pursuade the consumer that one symbol should be preferred over the other. Both Rainforest Alliance and Fairtrade engage in environmental and social responsibility initiatives, and their prioritisation of one over the other should not be construed as an issue or as an attempt to present that one is acting more morally than the other. Instead, it is to arm the consumer with information and find differences where there are some, even if only slight differences between the symbolism that has become commonplace on our supermarket shelves.
To conclude this summary in a sentence, Rainforest Alliance places a greater emphasis on environmental responsibility and Fairtade places a greater emphasis on social responsibility.
We hope to make “What does… mean?” a running feature on our blog so welcome suggestions of what you would like to see compared next - please don’t hesitate to contact us using the “Contact Us” page or the footer of this page.