Regulation broadly understood involves the setting and communication of standards and rules, and the monitoring compliance with these standards, with penalties for non-compliance. Eco-certification adds to these activities the attaching of ‘eco-labels’ to products and enterprises which meet the standards; and creating institutions to implement these activities (Mutersbaugh 2005a,b; Hatanaka 2005; Ponte 2011). Many (but not all) eco-certification schemes include social standards for workers or affected residents. PES projects operate in a similar fashion—a seller receives payments in exchange for meeting specified conditionalities (Engel et al 2008) with respect to maintaining eco-system services, with compliance subject to verification through monitoring. The proliferation of non-state monitoring and verification has led to the emergence of a growing multi-billion dollar industry of companies and business-oriented NGOs who partner with corporate buyers to seek out ‘sustainable sources’ and assist in monitoring and certification—in effect paralleling the activities of state agencies that enforce state rules and regulations.