Agricultural commodities move along complex supply chains, exposing thousands of public and private institutions worldwide to the risks of unsustainable land-use practices and deforestation. A handful of forest-risk commodities — including palm oil, beef, soy, and pulp and paper — account for more than 70% of all deforestation in tropical forests.

An unprecedented number of companies have made corporate commitments to remove commodity-driven deforestation from their supply chains. There are significant challenges but also new opportunities to facilitate larger-scale implementation of zero-deforestation commitments. One of the challenges is the limited availability and transparency of information on complex supply chains, which constitutes a critical barrier to action. Transparency initiatives such as the Trase tool – led by the Stockholm Environment Institute and The Global Canopy Program – have the potential to change this. This article outlines a three-step process to facilitate the wider implementation of deforestation-free commitments at the jurisdictional level.

The book chapter is written in Zero Deforestation: A commitment to change.

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