Growers supplying plants and flowers to Royal FloraHolland’s auctions will need to demonstrate phased environmental registration and certification by the end of 2021.
The organisation, which handles more than 100,000 transactions a day through its digital and physical auctions (Aalsmeer, Naaldwijk, Rijnsburg and Eelde) says suppliers will need to be be in possession of a market-compliant environmental certificate – a sustainability milestone for the sector.
The management board’s decision followed a recommendation from the members’ council. CEO Steven van Schilfgaarde said: “Sustainability is one of the pillars of Royal FloraHolland's strategy. It offers our members opportunities to strengthen their competitive position and helps to make our marketplace and sector future-proof. The market demands transparency in relation to production and operations.”
The mandatory environmental certificate will be introduced gradually. The first step is digital environmental registration for all marketplace suppliers by 31 December 2020 at the latest. After 31 December 2021, having a market-compliant environmental certificate will be compulsory for all suppliers. The third, long-term step will be to ensure that growers meet all established Floriculture Sustainability Initiative (FSI) standards, but no enforcement date has yet been set.
The members’ council recommendation that extra attention should be paid to the environmental registration and certification of international members was accepted by the management board.
Growers who have not yet registered digitally and are not yet certified will get help through an ‘onboarding’ programme.