1. Consumers can drive the change Stefan Petrutiu

2. 45% of children in Côte d’Ivoire not attending school Which ones are easier to solve? The Dutch share of impacts: Between 5.000 - 15.000 child laborers Rainforest loss at a rate of 2 football fields per minute Nepal earthquake: 9.000 deaths and 450.000 displaced ISIS in Syria: 220.000 deaths and 9 million displaced The ones to which we are connected

3. The differences are the barriers: It’s not only about responsibility Urgency The availability heuristic Poverty vs Livelihoods

4. Understanding change Factors influencing production-consumption systems: Trade and global production chains Prices Income Technological advances New business models Marketing Urbanisation and infrastructure developments Demographics; social and cultural factors such as habits, social norms and heritage We should now ask ourselves, which ones can we control to achieve positive impacts fast? trade and global production systems? Not really, we need to get jobs in multinationals, do research for years and with some luck in 30 years we’ll be in a position to make some good decisions. But then it’s too late Prices? No, the mechanisms are too complex and rigid Income? Yes, we can control this, how much we make and how much we spend out of it technological advances? We have to use them in my opinion, but it’s our choice how much to believe in them. I see them as necessary to achieve higher yields fast New business models? We should definitely look closely at them as this is where innnovation happens IMO these are key Marketing? Yes let’s control marketing! Is it done now? Barely, some small organizations offer marketing only to non-profits or to social enterprises. A good start, but the army of marketeers doing their jobs for whoever asks, companies responsible for current problems, is huge. We need to use marketing for the better Urbanisation and infrastructure developments. Well problems are on the production side, but we cannot do much about it. However, premiums can sometimes be used by a coop on infrastructure We can for sure change habits. Well to some extent we can educate people, afterwards it’s still a choice, but based on the right information. We can definitely control them

5. The Twitter push-n-shove

6. The Twitter push-n-shove – The response

7. Even if cocoa farmers receive the highest possible premium ($200/MT) and are awarded the entire premium without paying the cost of the audit, they still would not make enough to lift their families out of poverty. Given an average yield and a farm size of 2 hectares, farmers that receive the maximum possible premium could make a net income of $955.30 in Côte d’Ivoire (the equivalent of $2.62 per day, $0.44 per dependent) and $1,183.12 in Ghana (the equivalent of $3.24 per day, $0.54 per dependent.) A couple of striking facts Certified vs Non-certified Ivory Coast – cocoa (2014) 2,343 euro 2,013 euro 90% of farmers say that the premium doesn’t cover the costs of production

8. Sourcing from large plantations & agribusinesses More labels Increase in wrong reasons to become more sustainable More consumer segments More companies using labels More communication messages Small farmers suffer More products & distribution channels Increased competition Increase in confusion for consumers Increase in methods to inform consumers (organizations campaigns, apps, etc) Erosion of principles Complex & expensive Addition of burdensome elements Very limited impact A tool introduced to change a system

9. For discussion Does VSS have a role in the future? What are possible roles? What is the desired impact we want to have through our consumption? What else needs to happen to achieve that impact?

10. Let’s make it simple and fun again