The Consumer Goods Forum's Forest Positive Coalition of Action has published its first annual report, indicating the level to which the retail and consumer goods sectors are driving transformation in the production and supply of four key commodities: palm oil; soy; paper, pulp and fibre-based packaging; and beef.
The Coalition, which is led by Alexandre Bompard, CEO, Carrefour, and Grant F. Reid, CEO, Mars, Incorporated, and includes a number of leading retailers and manufacturers, has set a number of KPIs, enabling members to members to track and publicly communicate their progress.
The launch of the report comes ahead of the Consumer Goods Forum Sustainable Retail Summit, which takes place in Paris on 13 and 14 October. ESM is s media partner for the Summit.
Measuring Progress
The Coalition's KPIs demonstrate members' individual and collective progress in key areas such as:
- Time-bound action plans to implement forest positive procurement policies
- Percentage of commodity supply from areas with high risks for deforestation, land conversion and exploitation
- Performance of suppliers and traders against the Coalition’s Forest Positive Asks, a set of expectations Coalition members seek to meet as forest positive businesses that they also share with supply chain partners
While some member businesses are already reporting against certain KPIs, other metrics are new to Coalition members — reflecting that members are recognising where they can collectively improve as companies as a result of their work with the Forest Positive Coalition of Action.
According to the Consumer Goods Forum, setting a commitment to report openly against these KPIs will help to drive the full-sector transformation needed to end commodity-driven deforestation by ensuring that companies can be clear on when, where and how deforestation risks occur, so they can take swift and proper action to prevent and remedy them.
Affirmative Action
“Our planet is on the brink of irreversible climate change – and stopping commodity-driven deforestation is critical to addressing the climate crisis and preserving biodiversity, as well as protecting forest-based communities around the world," commented Wai-Chan Chan, managing director, The Consumer Goods Forum.
"Collaboration and openness are both vital in combating deforestation, and we must push ourselves to all continue to do much more to catalyse change. Members of our Forest Positive Coalition know we must all strive to continually go further, and we look forward to sharing their individual and collective progress as they endeavour to ensure a better tomorrow through better business.”
Members of the Coalition include retailers Carrefour, Jerónimo Martins, METRO AG, Sainsbury’s, Sodexo, Tesco and Walmart, as well as 13 manufacturers, Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) Sinar Mas, Colgate-Palmolive Company, Danone, Essity, General Mills, Grupo Bimbo, Mars, Incorporated, Mondelēz International, Nestlé, P&G, PepsiCo, Reckitt, and Unilever.
Along with Carrefour's Bompard and Mars' Reid, the Coalition is co-chaired by Christine Montenegro McGrath, vice president and chief global impact, sustainability, at Mondelēz International, and Bertrand Swiderski, chief sustainability officer, Carrefour.
The full publication is available to view here. For more information, visit: www.tcgfforestpositive.com.
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