New Supply Chain Transparency Network animation launched at COP24

The new Supply Chain Transparency Network (SCTN) animation highlights the obstacles facing consumer companies’ supply chains in meeting zero deforestation commitments and the transparency tools available that can assist them.

The 2020 challenge

Commodities such as soy, palm oil, timber and beef are driving tropical deforestation, but the global demand for these commodities is increasing. What can companies do to make sure that deforestation is not the hidden ingredient in their supply chains?

Unilever is one of the many companies facing this challenge. By 2020, they aim to source 100% of their agricultural raw materials sustainably. Senior Global Advocacy Manager for Forests at Unilever, Melissa Miners highlights that ‘it will be very difficult to achieve our no deforestation commitment without greater transparency across the industry.’

Companies must increase their supply chain transparency to pinpoint deforestation risks and implement action plans to remove tropical forest destruction.

How can Transparency be improved?

Toby Gardner, Director of Trase explained ‘companies must understand their global supply chains in order to understand the impacts they are having forest ecosystems. The new Supply Chain Transparency Network video helps to visualise these impacts while highlighting the opportunity for companies to make the most of the tools available to them through the network.’

Zero-deforestation is integral to tackling climate change

As governments meet at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change 24th annual conference of the parties (COP24) in Katowice, Poland, this film highlights the importance of tackling deforestation to meet climate targets.

While tropical forests must be included in government’s climate mitigation strategies, a zero-deforestation economy will not be possible without private sector action.

Global net emissions of greenhouse gases could be reduced by up to 30% through conservation and restoration of tropical forests. To achieve this goal, companies need to remove deforestation from their supply chains, helping deliver their sustainability commitments and playing their part in combatting climate change.

A new video released by UNFCCC and Sir David Attenborough at COP24 shows that 94% of consumers are willing to change their daily behaviour to tackle climate change. As consumers demand sustainably sourced products, removing deforestation from company supply chains makes both environmental and business sense.

For a full list of Supply Chain Transparency Network organisations and the tools they provide, visit our new data directory here.

If your organisation works on agricultural commodity supply chain transparency and you would like to get involved with the SCTN, please email us at sctn@globalcanopy.org.

The Supply Chain Transparency Network is a community of practice convened by Global Canopy and the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) that aims to bring together initiatives working on supply chain transparency as a key solution to addressing commodity-driven deforestation and other environmental and social impacts. The network focuses on efforts to map, monitor and gather data on key forest risk commodity supply chains, and how to best leverage this information to support a transition to a more sustainable global economy.