Zero-Deforestation Commodity Supply Chains by 2020: Are We Winning?

This report provides a background analysis of progress in achieving zero-deforestation commitments in the supply chains of the five main forest-risk agricultural commodities: soy, palm oil, beef, wood and paper products, and cocoa. The production of these goods was responsible for the loss of more than a hundred million hectares of forest between 2000 and 2012. Against this backdrop, the food and agricultural sector has largely recognized its responsibility to protect forests. Indeed, more than 470 companies operating in the sector have pledged to eliminate deforestation from their supply chains – and this number continues to grow. However, a lack of harmonization in definitions, standards, and reporting renders an evaluation of the efficacy and implementation of these pledges difficult. To eliminate forest loss by 2030 and halve it by 2020, as called for by the 2014 New York Declaration on Forests, much more action will be needed from major consumer goods and producer, processor, and trader companies in the agricultural sector. Financial companies will also have to more stringently monitor, enforce, and report their zero-deforestation-financing commitments.