The Paris climate agreement came into force on Friday, proceeded by a UN report that said greenhouse gas emissions in 2030 will exceed by upwards of 14 billion metric tons what is needed to keep global warming to the internationally agreed upon target.
We know corporations can curb emissions by taking steps to reduce deforestation in their supply chains — and, in fact, hundreds of companies have made commitments to protect forests by sustainability sourcing agricultural commodities. But progress is mixed on implementing these pledges, according to a coalition of think tanks and research organizations.
Companies worldwide have started to make good on promises to eliminate forest destruction from their supply chains, according to two reports released Thursday. But progress is too gradual, they warn.
The reports are part of a multi-year effort to track progress on the 10 goals laid out in the New York Declaration on Forests, a 2014 pledge by 190 governments, multi-national companies, indigenous groups and NGOs to halve natural forest loss by 2020 and end it by 2030.
One report analyzes 600 companies engaged in the production of the “big four” commodities responsible for 40 percent of deforestation: palm oil, wood, cattle and soy. If finds that 415 companies have made more than 700 supply chain commitments — but these address mostly palm oil (59 percent) and timber (53 percent). Twenty-one percent focus on soy. And for cattle, the primary driver of deforestation, only 12 percent of companies have made commitments.
“What we now need, if forests and the climate are to be saved, is action on commodities with the biggest forest impacts, and an increase in partnerships between companies and governments, and among retailers, traders and producers that pool resources to save forests,” said Charlotte Streck, co-founder and director of Climate Focus, which led the development of the report.
A second report released at the same time provides an update on all 10 goals of the New York Declaration on Forests.
In addition to Climate Focus, other organizations involved in producing the reports include CDP, Environmental Defense Fund, Forest Trends, Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, Global Canopy Programme, International Union for Conservation of Nature, Rainforest Alliance, Stockholm Environment Institute, The Sustainability Consortium, Woods Hole Research Center, World Resources Institute and Global Forest Watch.
The first report highlights best practices that corporations can employ to keep forests in Latin America, Southeast Asia and Central Africa standing. These include using satellites to monitor forest loss to training cocoa farmers to grow sustainable crops.
It also identifies barriers facing companies that are trying to move from commitments to action and says governments are essential for helping companies deliver on their forest commitments. Companies interviewed for the report said that poor land-use planning, weak law enforcement and insufficient monitoring and accountability systems in forest countries where they operate make it difficult for them to achieve their goals.
Most companies have monitoring systems in place that allows them to trace their commodities along part of the supply chain. But they say that tracing these commodities — particularly soy and palm oil — all the way back to the farm level is challenging.
Some companies are choosing to work with only those countries showing a commitment to eliminating deforestation, the report says. In 2015, for example, Unilever and Marks & Spencer committed to preferential sourcing from the 50 tropical forest countries engaged in the reduction of deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) — a policy included in the Paris Agreement.
Earlier this year Cargill and the World Resources Institute formed a partnership to improve forest management.
Under the two-year partnership, Cargill will use WRI’s agricultural tools — these include maps and analytics — to improve its environmental management while WRI will benefit from Cargill’s global insights from working in food and agriculture in 70 countries around the world.
Initially, efforts to protect forests will focus on two commodity supply chains: soy in Paraguay and palm oil in Indonesia. WRI’s Global Forest Watch will help Cargill prioritize action areas and improve transparency. Global Forest Watch combines satellite technology, supply chain information and analytical methods to measure forest change.
In Paraguay, Cargill works with more than 3,000 farmers in the Atlantic Forest to source soy, and has been building a sustainable soy program there since 2009. WRI’s analysis will assess deforestation risks in Paraguay and across Latin America to help ensure soy is sourced more responsibly.
Cargill has also committed to creating a 100 percent transparent, traceable and sustainable palm supply chain by 2020.
“Cargill is working across supply chains, like palm and soy, to protect forests and promote farmer livelihoods,” said Dave MacLennan, chairman and CEO of Cargill, in an email to Environmental Leader. “Collaboration with business, government and civil society is driving momentum to solve the global challenge of deforestation. While the progress is encouraging, there’s still more work to be done. We all need to redouble our efforts to have a lasting impact.”
But will it be fast and broad enough to have an impact on saving forests and reducing global emissions? Only time will tell.
