Consumer Goods Forum Releases Report Centered on Combating Deforestation

PARIS — The Consumer Goods Forum’s (CGF) Forest Positive Coalition of Action has published its first-ever Annual Report — marking what the agency said is the first time member businesses have aligned on a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and shared their individual and collective progress in publicly reporting against them.     

Today’s Annual Report, unveiled as part of Climate Week in New York, comes one year after the Forest Positive Coalition was officially launched at Climate Week 2020. In March 2021, the Forest Positive Coalition of Action published "Taking Root: Embarking on the Forest Positive Journey," providing a comprehensive overview of how the group is working to drive transformation in the production and supply of four key commodities: palm oil; soy; paper, pulp and fiber-based packaging; and beef. The new KPIs will allow coalition members to track and publicly communicate their progress in implementing the coalition’s Theory of Change, which prioritizes supply chain management and collaboration as two essential strategies for businesses to become forest positive.

The Coalition’s new KPIs demonstrate coalition members’ individual and collective progress in key areas including:   

While some member businesses are already reporting against certain KPIs, other metrics are new to coalition members — a reflection of members recognizing where they can collectively improve as companies as a result of their work with the Forest Positive Coalition of Action. Setting a commitment to report openly against these KPIs should 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.

Providing an important milestone in the coalition’s journey to build a greater "transparency mindset" within consumer goods companies’ approaches to deforestation, the publication demonstrates the drive of these coalition members to full transparency and accountability. Both are essential in being able to track progress, bring visibility to supply chain challenges and build trust with stakeholders and consumers.  

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), agri-food production has been the primary driver of three-quarters of global deforestation to date, and the last year has seen a concerning increase in deforestation in many regions, in part due to the impacts of COVID-19.    

“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," said 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 catalyze 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 endeavor to ensure a better tomorrow through better business.”

The coalition is co-sponsored at the CGF board level by Alexandre Bompard, CEO, Carrefour, and Grant F. Reid, CEO, Mars, Inc. It 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 CGF members joining today’s announcement are seven retailers — Carrefour, Jerónimo Martins, METRO AG, Sainsbury’s, Sodexo, Tesco and Walmart — and 13 manufacturers — Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) Sinar Mas, Colgate-Palmolive Company, Danone, Essity, General Mills, Grupo Bimbo, Mars, Inc., Mondelēz International, Nestlé, P&G, PepsiCo, Reckitt and Unilever. The Coalition receives technical support from Proforest and the Tropical Forest Alliance.

“With this unprecedented report, today marks an important step toward our goal of a forest positive future," said Bompard. "Transparency is an essential catalyst for change. We know that acting on our individual supply chains isn’t enough to save the world’s forests. Everyone — from businesses to governments to the financial sector, to NGOs, forest farmers and communities — has a role to play, and we are eager to work with everyone toward shared action. We want and need a more transformative approach that will get us to a more forest positive future faster. There is so much more to do.”

"The world’s forests nurture biodiversity, and serve as home and sources of income for millions of people," said Reid. "But the impact of deforestation goes much further. If forests are cleared, or even disturbed, they release carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. There’s simply no way we can fight the climate crisis if we don’t stop deforestation. The Forest Positive Coalition of The Consumer Goods Forum has committed to do just that. We are now 12 months into this journey and this report marks our first report against  an aligned set of Key Performance Indicators that we are working on collectively. It is a significant milestone for our industry, but just one of many steps on the path to ending deforestation. Of course, we can’t do this alone and you’ll see our stakeholders’ voices represented in this report as well. We hope more businesses outside of the Coalition will see we are serious about doing our part to build a forest positive future and take the decision to join us.”