In the partner newspaper of the Süddeutsche Zeitung, jetzt, Nadja Schlüter asks the question "Is it helpful to environmental protection, if it becomes a fashion trend?" ("Hilft es dem Umweltschutz, wenn er ein Modetrend wird?"). To answer this question she interviews Thomas Dietz and Tillmann Buttschard from the Center of Interdisplinary Sustainability Research in Münster.

Find the whole article here.

Marianne Kägi, editor of the TV magazine Kassensturz, Swiss Radio and Television (SRF) comes to Münster to interview Thomas Dietz for her TV broadcast on the effectiveness of certifications in the cacao and coffee industry.

Find the video here.

In his article "Fairtrade? Organic? For many coffee farmers the certification is a misfortune" ("Fairtrade? Bio? Für viele Kaffeebauern sind die Siegel ein Unglück") in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) Marius Hasenheit highlights the deficiencies of current certification schemes.

Find the article here.

In her policy paper for the Center for Global Development Kimberly Ann Elliot reviews the evidence for assessing the impacts of VSS suggesting  "that certification schemes can be beneficial, but context matters, and the poorest, most vulnerable smallholder producers are able to comply with sustainability standards only with substantial external help".

You can download the policy paper for free here.

Editor Nick Brown presents TRANS SUSTAIN's Voluntary Sustainability Standards index for coffee (VOCSI) in his article in the the online Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine.

Find the whole article here.

On his website the development aid organization Hivos published a new edition of the Coffee Barometer which aims to pinpoint some gaping holes in the knowledge about international coffee production. A chapter is dedicated to the sustainability commitments, which is also highlighting the research of TRANS SUSTAIN Janina Grabsworking paper "The rise of buyer-driven sustainability governance: Emerging trends in the global coffee sector. (ZenTra Working Papers in Transnational Studies 73/2017).

You can download the report here.