Strengthening Sustainability Systems Together: ISEAL Members’ Week outcomes

11 November 2025

ISEAL Members’ Week brings together leading sustainability systems, standard-setters, and partners to exchange insights on emerging trends, shared challenges, and innovations shaping the future of voluntary sustainability standards (VSS). ASI’s participation ensures that the perspectives of the aluminium value chain are represented in these cross-sector discussions. Insights from the event feed directly into ASI’s Standards Revision, claims and assurance development, and collaborative initiatives on climate, nature, and human rights. For members, this engagement helps keep ASI aligned with emerging best practice, regulatory expectations, and innovation across sustainability systems — reinforcing the value and credibility of ASI certification and participation.

The Future of Sustainability Systems

The week opened with reflections on how Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) are evolving in a rapidly changing global context marked by climate transition, human rights due diligence, data transformation, and regulatory uncertainty. Participants noted a shift from product certification toward demonstrating sustainability performance, integrating predictive assurance, and strengthening claims credibility — all closely aligned with ASI’s ongoing Standards Revision process. Discussions underscored VSS’ distinctive role in access, inclusion, capacity building, and collaboration, especially as political and market dynamics reshape the sustainability landscape.

Social Impact and Human Rights

Sessions explored how sustainability systems can deliver stronger social outcomes, with a focus on livelihoods, gender, equity, and rights-based approaches such as FPIC. A potential new ISEAL-led FPIC working group will consolidate learning across systems, informed by ASI’s own experiences under Performance Standard v3.1 and mine closure initiatives. Common challenges identified include auditor competence, cultural sensitivity, and grievance mechanisms — areas where ASI’s FPIC and community engagement work is recognised as leading practice.

Nature, Climate, and Data Innovation

VSS are increasingly linking climate, biodiversity, and social outcomes through unified metrics, interoperable data, and landscape-level approaches. The collaboration between ASI and Accounting for Nature in northern Queensland was highlighted as an example of integrating ecological accounting and Indigenous-led decision-making. Discussions on geospatial data echoed opportunities for digitisation, interoperability, and cross-sector learning — relevant to ASI’s broader efforts to strengthen data quality and assurance systems.

System Effectiveness, Claims, and Mass Balance

Sessions on system competencies and credible claims reinforced the need for measurable performance outcomes, data integration, and alignment with regulatory frameworks such as the EU Green Claims Directive. ASI’s mass balance approach was directly relevant to debates on the credibility, communication, and digitalisation of traceability models, where consensus pointed to reframing consumer claims toward contribution-based narratives rather than physical content.

Evidence, Learning, and Rightsholder Data

The week closed with a focus on impact measurement and rightsholder-engaged data. Stronger links between data, decision-making, and strategy were identified as critical to VSS effectiveness. Discussions on community-based data systems aligned with ASI’s emphasis on participatory approaches and Indigenous-led monitoring, a key focus of the ISEAL funded Mine Rehabilitation and Closure project, highlighting how rightsholder-controlled information can build trust, legitimacy, and more equitable governance within sustainability frameworks.

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