Support Fair Trade businesses
Ensure Scotland’s status as a ‘Fair Trade Nation’ is developed by supporting Fair Trade businesses as a key part of wider initiatives to support social enterprises and small businesses.
Fair Trade businesses have Sustainable Development Goal 12101 at their core – through their commitment to responsible consumption and production. Doing trade and business differently – not just being driven by profit maximisation – brings with it extra costs, for instance, advance payments to suppliers, adding burdens to Fair Trade businesses that ‘conventional’ businesses do not face. Therefore support for Fair Trade businesses is required to allow them to compete on a level playing field.
A commitment to Fair Trade is essential to ensure our positive contribution internationally. Maintaining, developing and promoting Scotland’s commitment to being a ‘Fair Trade Nation’ is a key way of achieving this. This includes continued support for the Fair Trade grassroots network of campaigners and businesses, recognising the importance of Fair Trade small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Scotland and the potential for growth of this area of business.
See also ‘Public sector commitment to the Fair Trade Nation’ policy in the Public Sector chapter.
For further information:
- 2021-2026 Policy Priorities for Scotland, SIDA, 2021, https://www.intdevalliance.scot/how-wehelp/ 2021-scottish-election
- Business and Fair Trade, Scottish Fair Trade Forum, https://www.scottishfairtradeforum.org.uk/getinvolved/ business-and-procurement/business-and-fair-trade/
UN: SDG 12 is about “ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns, which is key to sustain the livelihoods of current and future generations. Unsustainable patterns of consumption and production are root causes of the triple planetary crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.”
