20×2020: Green Century Is Pressing 20 Corporations to Fulfill No-Deforestation Commitments By 2020

Jessye Waxman coordinates Green Century’s work to protect tropical forests.

Globally, the equivalent of a football field of forest is destroyed every second.

Most of this unfathomable destruction is attributable to the unsustainable cultivation of just four commodities: palm oil, soy, cattle, and timber/paper.

Recognizing that corporate demand fuels deforestation, several multi-stakeholders, including the Consumer Goods Forum, the New York Declaration on Forests, and the Amsterdam Declaration on Deforestation, pledged to work to mobilize resources to significantly cut global forest lost by the end of 2020.  Since then, hundreds of companies have committed, to varying degrees, to eliminate deforestation within their supply chains by 2020.

With the end of the year fast approaching, however, it’s clear that many of these companies are not on track to meet their commitments, and some are even attempting to unwind them – but delay is unacceptable.

If the current rates of deforestation continue, more than a quarter of the Amazon will be forestless by 2030. Most alarmingly, scientists warn that the Amazon could reach an irreversible tipping point of ecological collapse within two years.

We can’t allow this to happen, which makes corporate commitments to end deforestation more important than ever. To ensure that these pledges are met and on schedule, investors need to make their voices heard.

Green Century recently identified 20 key commodity traders and corporations that have pledged to end deforestation in their supply chains and have provided insufficient disclosure of progress and launched an effort to press them to fulfill their commitments by the 2020 deadline.

Since 2012, Green Century has successfully pressed dozens of companies to adopt and implement no-deforestation commitments – but approximately 60 football fields of forest have disappeared since you started reading this, so 2020 is no time to rest on our laurels.

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This information has been prepared from sources believed reliable. The views expressed are as the date of this writing and are those of the Advisor to the Funds.

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