Leading Consumer Goods Retailers and Manufacturers Launch Actions to Transform Production Landscapes to 'Forest Positive' by 2030

PARIS and GLASGOW, Scotland, November 8, 2021 /3BL Media/ - The Consumer Goods Forum’s (CGF) Forest Positive Coalition of Action has today launched an ambitious strategy for driving transformational, forest positive change in the regions where the Coalition’s key commodities are produced and sourced by 2030. Engagement in these landscapes is a key element of the Coalition’s Theory of Change, complementing its focus on sustainable supply chain management and the development of forest positive businesses throughout global value chains. By collaborating with local stakeholders, organisations, and governments to support these initiatives, the Coalition seeks to use its influence as 20 of the world’s leading retailers and manufacturers to catalyse wider transformation in commodity supply chains, production landscapes and jurisdictions worldwide.

Leveraging this influence, Coalition members are working to collectively transform areas equivalent to the size of the Coalition’s combined production-base footprint by 2030. Each Coalition member has committed to investing in local-level initiatives driving forest conservation, ecosystem restoration, and community inclusion in the production of the Coalition’s four key commodities: palm oil, soy, paper, pulp and fibre-based packaging, and beef. 

The strategy will commence with a “Learning Phase” through 2023 in which all Coalition members will invest annually in at least one programme selected from the Coalition’s “Learning Through Action” Portfolio of Landscape Initiatives. This Portfolio currently includes 20 programmes driving forest positive outcomes in six countries: Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Russia, Indonesia and Malaysia. These initiatives were selected based on the Coalition’s Principles of Collective Action, a set of criteria used to determine where engagement will be most effective to achieve the Coalition’s forest positive goals. The full criteria can be viewed here. 

The launch of this strategy follows months of development and consultation with key stakeholders, experts, and leaders of landscape initiatives, as well as the Coalition’s first collective investment in the Siak Pelalawan Landscape Programme, based in Riau, Indonesia, in December 2020. 

This Landscape ambition is the result of the work of dedicated members of the CGF Forest Positive Coalition led by manufacturer PepsiCo and retailer Tesco with the support of the Coalition’s CGF Board-level Co-sponsors, Alexandre Bompard, CEO and Chairman, Carrefour, and Grant F. Reid, CEO, Mars, Incorporated. The Coalition is being supported by the Tropical Forest Alliance and Proforest as strategic and technical partners.

The Coalition is using its production-base footprint — a neutral estimate to represent the Coalition’s impact and leverage in commodity production — to determine the size of its ambition. The Coalition is currently calculating the size of its footprint across its focus commodities in partnership with 3Keel, and with the expert guidance of organisations like the World Wildlife Fund, the Accountability Framework initiative, and The Nature Conservancy. This calculation and the methodology will be released once completed and is expected to be updated periodically.

Additionally, the Coalition will develop Key Performance Indicators for member companies to publicly report on their engagement in production landscapes, as defined in the Coalition’s Commodity Roadmaps.

The launch of the Coalition’s landscape strategy comes after Jim Andrew, Chief Sustainability Officer of PepsiCo, shared details of the Coalition’s ambitions during the FACT Dialogue Nature Day Panel at the 26th Annual United Nations Climate Conference (COP26) in Glasgow. It also follows the initiative of more than 100 governments to end deforestation by 2030, a pledge that is welcomed by The Consumer Goods Forum and the Forest Positive Coalition, both of which offer their support to world leaders in fulfilling the commitment.

Ken Murphy, CEO, Tesco, and CGF Board Member, said, “All of the members of the Forest Positive Coalition of Action are at different stages of their forest positive journey, but we all share the same goal of halting deforestation and supporting the people and communities that call these vital habitats their home. The launch of our collective landscape ambition is the output of many months of learning, best-practice sharing and stakeholder engagement. We now look forward to turning these learnings into actions which will have a direct, sustainable impact on the geographies where our commodities are sourced from.”

Ramon Laguarta, CEO, PepsiCo, and CGF Board Member, said, “As consumer goods companies, we all depend on a stable climate and a thriving natural ecosystem. It is critical that we connect our businesses directly with the health of the world’s forests, the livelihoods of communities, and the sustainability of our planet. Through our strategic end-to-end business transformation, pep+ (PepsiCo Positive), we have accelerated our efforts to make the food system more sustainable, regenerative and inclusive. We are proud to work with our fellow Coalition members, and together we will help build a stronger, more sustainable future for us all.”

Alexandre Bompard, CEO and Chairman, Carrefour, and Coalition Co-Sponsor said, “As members of the Forest Positive Coalition of Action, we recognize that we need to act beyond our individual supply chains to unlock a forest positive future. Reducing our negative impact on forests is not enough. That is why we are supporting local initiatives working directly on-the-ground in the environments and communities most impacted by deforestation. Through this collective strategy, we are building new industry norms to make our vision of a forest positive future a reality.”

Grant F. Reid, CEO, Mars, Incorporated, and Coalition Co-sponsor, said, “Collaboration and scale are essential to the success of the Forest Positive Coalition of Action, and this new strategy demonstrates our shared commitment to  progressive action towards a forest positive future. Working with  local stakeholders, civil society and governments we will identify impactful solutions and play our part in accelerating efforts to eliminate deforestation in key geographies.”

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, Incorporated, Mondelēz International, Nestlé, P&G, PepsiCo, Reckitt, and Unilever.

This announcement follows the publication of the Coalition’s first-ever Annual Report at New York Climate Week, which includes a baseline understanding of how Coalition members are advancing on their commitment to report publicly on an aligned set of transparency metrics.

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For more information please contact: 

Didier Bergeret
Director, Sustainability
The Consumer Goods Forum
forestpositive@theconsumergoodsforum.com

Madelaine VanDerHeyden
Officer, Communications
The Consumer Goods Forum
m.vanderheyden@theconsumergoodsforum.com

About the Forest Positive Coalition of Action 
The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) Forest Positive Coalition of Action is a CEO-led initiative representing 20 CGF member companies who are committed to leveraging collective action and accelerating systemic efforts to remove deforestation, forest degradation and conversion from key commodity supply chains. Launched in 2020, the Coalition represents a dynamic shift in the industry’s approach to stopping deforestation: by mobilising the leading position of member companies to build multi-stakeholder partnerships and develop effective implementation and engagement strategies, the Coalition brings together diverse stakeholders for sustainable impact. These efforts support the development of forest-positive businesses that drive transformational change in key landscapes and commodity supply chains, strengthening the resilience of communities and ecosystems worldwide. 

To learn more about the Forest Positive Coalition of Action, visit www.tcgfforestpositive.com.

About The Consumer Goods Forum
The Consumer Goods Forum (“CGF”) is a global, parity-based industry network that is driven by its members to encourage the global adoption of practices and standards that serves the consumer goods industry worldwide. It brings together the CEOs and senior management of some 400 retailers, manufacturers, service providers, and other stakeholders across 70 countries, and it reflects the diversity of the industry in geography, size, product category and format. Its member companies have combined sales of EUR 3.5 trillion and directly employ nearly 10 million people, with a further 90 million related jobs estimated along the value chain. It is governed by its Board of Directors, which comprises 58 manufacturer and retailer CEOs.

For more information, please visit: www.theconsumergoodsforum.com.