New approach to tackling deforestation could be the the answer to reach 2030 deforestation goals set for COP26

• Between 2019 and 2020, primary rainforest destruction increased by 12%, with the key drivers being agricultural commodity production (cattle ranching, large-scale agriculture, and smallholder farming)
• The New York Declaration of Forests commitment, made in 2014, by over 50 companies and 50 governments failed to reach its 2020 targets
• Landscape and Jurisdictional approaches provide a management framework that enables collaboration to occur across multiple stakeholders enabling renewed commitments made at Glasgow to end deforestation by 2030
• Latest CDP findings show to achieve zero deforestation goals by 2030 companies and governments need a seismic shift in their approach to halting deforestation

London 29^th November 2021: Today, new analysis from CDP, the not-for-profit which runs the world’s largest environmental disclosure system for companies, cities, states, and regions, endorses a new way companies can help halt deforestation and better monitor their supply chains.

The report entitled ‘Collective Action: Corporate Engagement in Landscape and Jurisdictional approaches’ sets out a clear pathway to assist companies in achieving their deforestation targets and nature commitments. The launch of this report coincides with the commitments made at COP26, where over 140 countries pledged to end deforestation by 2030. A similar pledge was made in 2014 and has already missed its 2020 targets. These new approaches can help ensure further targets aren’t missed.

The report unpacks the benefits of companies employing Landscape and Jurisdictional approaches (LA/JA).

Benefits include:

• Enabling companies to achieve their sustainability goals at a local level as it provides a framework to work closely with local stakeholders and governments
• Help minimize companies’ risk in their supply chains as it allows for deeper alignment with local stakeholders
• LA/JA also provides a framework to tackle systemic drivers of deforestation that have not been tackled previously
• 40% of tropical deforestation is driven by production and trade of just four commodities, ranked: (1) Palm Oil (2) Timber (3) Soy (4) Cattle
• In 2020 27 companies engaged with LA/JA approaches and in 2021 this increased to 47; despite being a 74% increase it demonstrates a lack of awareness for this approach
• In 2022, CDP will introduce a new framework to the forest questionnaire to ensure companies can better evaluate and monitor LA/JA approaches
• Further and faster engagement in LA/JA is needed from global companies to get forest commitments back on track
• Companies and subnational governments to disclose how their actions and commitments are supporting deforestation goals
• Investors to take note of the results of LA/JA actions in their risk assessments and investment decisions.

This is a much-needed step, since CDP analysis (of 2020 and 2021 Forest data) found only 10% of disclosing companies had 90% of production of one of their commodities certified in a ‘non-deforestation area’ and only 20% of companies conducted a comprehensive risk assessment in 2020.

Thomas Maddox, Global Director Forests and Land, CDP, said:

“Responses to climate change are still nowhere near what we need in order to meet the Paris Agreement targets, and individual action often acts as a barrier to success, so the need for collaborative action has never been greater. LA/JA help to tackle both environmental and social problems on the ground, and the CDP disclosure platform enables organizations to understand where they stand on their journey towards sustainability. We hope that this report helps to raise awareness of the benefits of LA/JA approach and the urgent need for further collaborative action.”

This emerging approach ensures that companies, governments, and local stakeholders are working together towards the same ‘collective goal’ leading to benefits beyond just halting de-forestation. This includes improving the livelihoods of those working in local areas, encouraging more sustainable development and conservation of local ecosystems.

Despite the benefits of these new approaches, CDP’s data shows that only 5% (47/865) of companies that responded to CDP’s Forest questionnaire are currently engaging with LA/JA. They include Amaggi, Carrefour, Musim Mas, PepsiCo and L’Oreal. This shows that both awareness and engagement in this new approach needs to increase.

Other key findings include:

CDP is calling for:

• Further and faster engagement in LA/JA is needed from global companies to get forest commitments back on track
• Companies and subnational governments to disclose how their actions and commitments are supporting deforestation goals
• Investors to take note of the results of LA/JA actions in their risk assessments and investment decisions.

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