A new international sustainable supply chain certification programme has been launched by Det Norske Veritas.

The ground-breaking new standards will cover all industries and aim to evaluate environmental and social responsibility standards within the business itself and throughout the supply chain.

“Protocol for supply chain has been worked out for the green coffee sector,” said Vittore Marangon, chief executive of DNV Business Assurance. “But the same logic can be applied, say to cocoa, to diamonds, to any product which has a supply chain.”

The certification will place equal emphasis on value creation and product quality, as opposed to simply concentrating on the ethical credentials on a company’s supply base.

The inspiration behind the certification has come from Italian coffee-giant Illycaffe – a company that currently sources its 100% Arabica coffee from 15 countries across the world.

The company, which has applied for DNV’s new certification, has already introduced strict new guidelines covering sustainability throughout its supply chain.

And Andrea Illy, the head of the company, believes that the introduction of standards such as this is essential in order to maintain quality and guarantee the viability of long-term supplies.

“”Quality is the main goal for us. We want to continue to make excellent coffee and to succeed,” Illy said.

He added that those companies that focus purely on ethical standards, while ignoring quality were set for a fall.

“Those who want to make ethical coffee, I think, will fail in a spectacular way,” he said.