Now COP26 has come to a close, governments, consumers, investors and businesses will need to collaborate and turn words into action in order to halt climate change and preserve critical natural resources.
One of the biggest pledges to come out of the conference was the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use. Signed by over 140 countries that are home to 90% of the world’s forests including the UK, US and Brazil, the declaration aims to reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030.
According to non-profit Global Canopy, ending deforestation and implementing natural climate solutions is estimated to provide a third of the solution to achieving the Paris Agreement climate target, so the challenge now is to put policy into practice not just internally, but through supply chains to protect forest habitats.
But with only 20% of European suppliers being consistently monitored for deforestation by customers and only 15% of key commodities such as soy confirmed as deforestation-free, it seems there is a lot of work to be done, and transparency is essential for progress.
Supply chain transparency critical to deforestation pledges
The Forest, Agriculture and Commodity Trade (FACT) Roadmap for Action, also launched as part of the COP26 negotiations held in Glasgow and supported by 28 countries states transparency within supply chains is critical to deforestation pledges.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4, UK environment secretary George Eustice told BBC Radio 4 the new measures will mean countries have to “pay much greater attention to their supply chains and the sustainability of those supply chains.”
But with many suppliers reluctant to share sourcing or supplier details further down the chain, how can businesses leverage supply chain transparency to make the progress so desperately needed?
Identifying deforestation risk with supply chain transparency technology
Combining increased legislation, global agreements and heightened due diligence with supply chain transparency solutions such as Authenticate, businesses can start mapping supply chain actors, all the way back to source to see the full scale of supplier networks.
With a suite of scalable digital tools, trusted by leading global brands, different teams from technical to sustainability and ethics have the ability to do all of the below, at the touch of a button.
- Collate high-risk commodity products in a custom catalogue structure
- Map supply chains to identify deforestation risk and prioritise by region or commodity
- Create and send tailored remote audits to assess and benchmark supplier risk
- Collaborate with and educate suppliers to drive improvements
- Track certification status against globally recognised schemes
- Report on progress against deforestation goals via digital dashboards
Want to find out how the Authenticate platform could help prevent deforestation in your supply chains to protect the planet and brand reputation? Get in touch with our knowledgeable team to discuss further.
