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Search Paris, 17 December 2024, The Consumer Goods Forum’s (CGF) Forest Positive Coalition has today published its latest report, demonstrating that a growing group of FMCG businesses are leading the way in their voluntary commitments to end deforestation, forest degradation and habitat conversion.
- Consumer goods businesses have improved transparency in their collaborative efforts to make progress towards eliminating deforestation and ecosystem conversion from global supply chains.
- For the first time, 83% of Coalition members have – publicly and voluntarily – reported on their Deforestation- and Conversion-Free (DCF) individual commitments: 83% of member companies have disclosed aggregated data as to how much of their palm oil is DCF, 75% for soy, 75% for beef, and 62% for pulp & paper.
- The report highlights ongoing challenges, including difficulties with DCF supply and suppliers due to complex supply chains, gaps in public traceability data, and an urgent need to increase the number of companies across supply chains engaging with DCF supply, as limited numbers reduce the sector’s ability to drive broader change.
The report shows the important advancements made by the Coalition as well as highlighting the ongoing challenges and work that remains to be done. Over the past year, 74% of member companies publicly reported their impact on deforestation and conversion of wild landscapes to farmland against a set of proposed key performance indicators such as policies and time-bound action plans, up from 68% a year ago.
This year, 83% of Coalition members reported on their Deforestation- and Conversion-Free (DCF) individual commitments, setting a new baseline for progress. The same number (83%) of members now disclose on an aggregated basis how much of their palm oil is DCF, with 75% reporting for soy, 75% for beef, and 62% for paper, pulp and fibre-based packaging.
The Coalition is an initiative of consumer goods companies collaborating to protect the world’s forests. It is made up of eight multinational retailers – Carrefour, IKEA, Jerónimo Martins, METRO AG, McDonald’s, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Walmart — and 13 major manufacturers — Asia Pulp and Paper Sinar Mas, Colgate-Palmolive Company, Danone, Essity, General Mills, Grupo Bimbo, Mars Incorporated, Mondelēz International, Neste, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Reckitt and Unilever.
All members are voluntarily committed to collaborative action to remove deforestation, forest degradation and conversion from supply chains.
Wai-Chan Chan, Managing Director of The Consumer Goods Forum, said:
“Forests are crucial to providing food, air, water and maintaining life on Earth – yet the world’s forests are in crisis. Greater transparency and collaboration are crucial to drive the pace and scale of change needed, and this report demonstrates the measurable progress our members have made.
“However, it also shows specific challenges that demand sustained attention. Achieving a Forest Positive future depends on a multistakeholder approach and broad, industry-wide engagement. To maintain the momentum we have built, we must continue driving collaborative action, expanding partnerships, and scaling proven initiatives to drive systemic, long-term change.”
The challenges identified by the report include difficulties with DCF supply and suppliers due to complex supply chains, gaps in readily available public traceability data, and an urgent need to increase the number of companies across supply chains engaging with DCF supply, as limited numbers reduce the sector’s ability to drive broader change.
Coalition members are now helping suppliers to produce key commodities in accordance with recommended DCF best practices when it comes to local communities, Indigenous people, workers and the natural world. Through this direct engagement with their own individual supply chains, businesses can pinpoint where risks are likely to occur and create programmes to prevent them.
Forest Positive Coalition Board Co-Sponsors, Alexandre Bompard, CEO, Carrefour and Noel Wallace, Chairman, President and CEO, Colgate-Palmolive, said:
“We are determined to build on the momentum we have created and move forward with greater ambition and transformative action. To increase the impact of our initiatives, we call on the wider industry to step up and engage with us in driving systemic change. Join us in supporting DCF supply chains and Forest Positive landscapes by collaborating on these goals and supporting our landscape initiatives.”
The report also outlines the Coalition’s increased engagement with local stakeholders in deforestation hotspots, including its partnerships on projects with over 250 stakeholders, such as governments, Indigenous communities, NGOs and business leaders. In addition, it details members’ investment in 26 landscape initiatives designed to restore ecosystems and create sustainable livelihoods.
Together, the Coalition members account for an overall market value of USD $1.8 trillion and 3% of global consumption of four forest-risk commodities; palm oil, soy, beef, and paper, pulp and fibre-based packaging. Their measurable progress towards eliminating deforestation and ecosystem conversion from global supply chains, through increased transparency and collaboration, provides a roadmap for the wider FMCG sector to act to end deforestation.
About the Forest Positive Coalition
The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) Forest Positive Coalition of Action is a CEO-led initiative representing 21 CGF member companies who have voluntarily committed to collaborative action and accelerating systemic efforts to remove deforestation, forest degradation and conversion from key commodity supply chains.
Launched in 2020, the Coalition represents a dynamic shift in the industry’s approach to stopping deforestation: by mobilising the leading position of member companies to build multi-stakeholder partnerships and develop effective implementation and engagement strategies, the Coalition brings together diverse stakeholders for sustainable impact.
These efforts support the development of forest positive businesses that drive transformational change in key landscapes and commodity supply chains, strengthening the resilience of communities and ecosystems worldwide.
To learn more about the Forest Positive Coalition, visit www.tcgfforestpositive.com
About The Consumer Goods Forum
The Consumer Goods Forum (“CGF”) is a global, parity-based industry network that is driven by its members to encourage the global adoption of best practices and recommended standards that serves the consumer goods industry worldwide.
Its members are the CEOs and senior management of some 400 retailers, manufacturers, service providers, and other stakeholders across 70 countries, and it reflects the diversity of the industry in geography, size, product category and format.
Its member companies have combined sales of EUR 4.6 trillion and directly employ nearly 10 million people, with a further 90 million related jobs estimated along the value chain. It is governed by its Board of Directors, which comprises more than 55 manufacturer and retailer CEOs.
For more information, please visit: www.theconsumergoodsforum.com
