Companies in the agriculture and forestry sectors are urged to disclose the amount of deforestation and ecosystem conversion in their commodity supply chains.
They are being asked to begin disclosing data on the status of their full commodity volumes though ESG reporting platforms like CDP Forests.
The call comes from the relatively new Accountability Framework initiative (AFi), which said in a statement sent to Net Zero Investor: "Companies that produce or source agricultural or forestry commodities are seeing ever-clearer expectations to eliminate deforestation, ecosystem conversion, and associated human rights abuses from their supply chains – and to be transparent about their progress."
It added: "These expectations come from buyers, investors, regulators, and other stakeholders. To understand company progress, credible disclosure is essential."
The AFi is a coalition of 26 prominent global environmental and human rights organisations: CDP, Ceres, Efeca, Forest Declaration Platform, Forest Peoples Programme, Supply Change, Global Canopy, High Conservation Value Approach, HCV Network, Imaflora, LTKL (Indonesia), Meridian Institute, Mighty Earth, National Wildlife Federation (US), Preferred by Nature, Proforest, Rainforest Alliance, Rainforest Foundation Norway, Resource Trust, Rights and Resources, Social Accountability International, The Nature Conservancy, Verite, Wildlife Conservation Society, World Resources Institute, and WWF.
Performance
The AFi said "disclosing performance this year will enable stakeholders to understand and recognise progress as companies advance towards a range of climate and nature goals."
It urged all companies that produce or source agricultural or forestry commodities to disclose this information, "regardless of their position in the supply chain or level of progress towards DCF supply chains."
Companies should disclose the DCF status of 100% of the volumes of agricultural or forestry commodities that the company produces or sources across several indicators as follows, the organisation added.
