Nature & More: ‘Faces of the Sustainable Development Goals’ campaign

Nature & More, the "trace & tell" consumer trademark and online transparency system of the Dutch organic food distributor Eosta, has recently launched its ‘Faces of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)’ campaign. The initiative aims at raising awareness of the UN’s SDGs across the whole fresh produce sector.

The “Faces of the SDGs” campaign presents stakeholders of the organic sector with their own individual SDG. The initiative is one aspect of the Netherlands-based company’s efforts to encourage a greater participation in the SDG challenge throughout the whole supply chain.

Eosta shot the first of a series of portraits of professionals from the organic sector with particularly designed SDG cubes already at the trade fairs Fruit Logistica and Biofach. Thereby, from a total of 17, participants got to choose their preferred sustainability aim for the portrait.

UN demands to take action for sustainability

In 2015, the framework of SDGs was adopted by all members of the UN aiming at ending poverty, planet protection as well as prosperity ensurance for all by the year 2030. While former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on governments to "take the lead with decisive steps," he also called on businesses to "provide essential solutions and resources that put our world on a more sustainable path".

Michaël Wilde, Sustainability & Communication manager at Eosta, commented: “We want to take the SDGs out of the theoretical policy space and move them firmly into the commercial environment where economy meets ecology. We hope to create more awareness for these goals both within and outside the produce sector”.

“Giving people the possibility to choose their most important goal out of the 17 takes people out of their role as a buyer, farmer or trader.  It creates room for a different kind of conversation about the future of our planet and everyone’s personal role in working towards a cleaner and fairer world,” Wilde said.

Eosta and Sustainability

Eosta, the initiating company behind Nature & More, has been one of the first companies in the sector actively incorporating SDGs into its business model. In order to implement the SGDs, the goals of the UN have been thoroughly studied and linked to the indicators of Eosta’s ‘Sustainability Flower’, a transparency and assessment model developed and used by the company. 

The UN’s 17 SDGs constitute a part of the Eosta’s sustainable development agenda, with each aim comprising targets to be achieved over a 15-year period. Goal 12 – Ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns – is of particular relevance to the global fresh produce industry. Thus, the Dutch company estimates that close to ten further SDGs would be impacted positively if the sector began farm more responsibly.