General

Deforestation accounts for 20% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Whilst the causes of deforestation are complex it is generally acknowledged that the biggest drivers are the cultivation of soya and oil palm, logging for the production of paper and board and the rearing of cattle. All of these commodities are major ingredients in the supply chains of most consumer goods companies.

At its Board meeting in November 2010, the Board has agreed a resolution pledging to mobilise resources within the respective businesses to help achieve zero net deforestation by 2020. The companies will achieve this both by individual company initiatives and by working collectively in partnership with governments and NGOs.

Progress update

The work on deforestation is being broken up into separate groups each of which will focus on one of the sensitive commodities. Specific, time bound and cost effective action plans for the different challenges in sourcing commodities like Palm Oil, Soy, Beef, and Paper & Board are developed and implemented.

The groups will be chaired by the following companies:

The output of the working groups will be a sourcing code to which all CGF companies can choose to adhere to. Throughout we will work with existing institutions and standards and not try and create new ones.

Useful links

• Jason Clay, WWF Senior Vice President of Market Transformation on cross-sector partnership on deforestation