Forest Positive Coalition Publishes Beef Commodity Roadmap and Guidance for Forest Positive Meatpackers in Brazil

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PARIS, February 18, 2022 /3BL Media/ - The Consumer Goods Forum’s (CGF) Forest Positive Coalition of Action has published the first version of its Beef Roadmap, a foundational document for Coalition members to guide their efforts in promoting a forest positive future in the beef supply chains. After the Coalition launched its Beef Commodity Working Group in February 2021, the Beef Roadmap is the fourth Commodity Roadmap from the Coalition.

This Roadmap serves as an important guide to help address the challenge of deforestation and conversion associated with the production of beef. With technical and strategic support from the Coalition’s partners Proforest and the Tropical Forest Alliance, Coalition members have aligned on a direction of travel to:

• Set higher expectations for suppliers and meatpackers to act across their entire supply base;
• Find opportunities for collaboration to drive sector-wide transformation, shedding light on the role the Coalition members can play and the contribution they can make;
• Transparently report on progress to ensure accountability.

One of the key goals is to create value chains with upstream suppliers who are also committed to forest positive implementation across all their business.

The Coalition has also published a “Guidance for Forest Positive Suppliers of Cattle Derived Products (Meatpackers in Brazil).” This document details how meatpackers can adopt sourcing practices that will ultimately allow them to meet the Coalition’s goals. Importantly, the Coalition’s strategy for the beef sector has been developed to complement the best practices already in place in Brazil developed by local cattle raisers, meatpackers, and geomonitoring companies.

The publication of these two critical strategic documents follows an in-depth stakeholder consultation process. During this process, stakeholders, including local and international NGOs, and large and medium-sized meatpackers in Brazil, were engaged to help inform the development of these documents.

Didier Bergeret, Director of Sustainability at The Consumer Goods Forum, said, "This final Roadmap is a major achievement not only for the Forest Positive Coalition of Action, but the consumer goods industry and beef sector at large. We are thankful to the many organisations and stakeholders who collaborated with us to arrive at this milestone, and we look forward to supporting companies as they implement the actions in the Roadmap and transparently report on their progress."

Pedro Amaral, Senior Sustainability Manager at Mars, Petcare, and co-chair of the Forest Positive Coalition Beef Working Group, said, “This is a key milestone for us, because it catalyses expanded adoption of best practices and collaboration to address remaining gaps in the beef sustainability agenda”.”

Susy Yoshimura, Sustainability Compliance Director, GPA/ASSAI, and Matthieu Riché, Corporate Social Responsibility Group Director, Groupe Casino, said, “The ‘Guidance on Forest Positive Suppliers of Cattle-derived Products’ defines a vision for the industry, the principles of cooperation among all stakeholders and a common ambition for all members of the Forest Positive Coalition Beef Working Group.”

Paulo Pianez, Sustainability Director at Marfrig, said, “We were happy to contribute to the development of the Roadmap and Guidance, building on the learnings of our partnerships with the value chain in Brazil and in line with efforts to bring isonomy to the sector. I am confident that together we will build a much more sustainable and inclusive beef industry.”

Isabel Garcia, Manager at Imaflora, said, "The CGF work and references are most valuable for strengthening commitments and initiatives around the beef sustainability agenda in Brazil. The market signal is clear and builds on the Beef on Track Program, evidencing it is possible to reconcile responsible production and consumption.”

The Forest Positive Coalition was formed in 2020 by The Consumer Goods Forum and brings together 21 of the world’s largest retailers and manufacturers, with a combined market value of around US $2 trillion, to take collective action to remove deforestation, forest conversion and degradation from key commodity supply chains. For more information about the Coalition’s actions to create a forest positive future, visit the Coalition’s website and read the Coalition’s 2021 Annual Report here.

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About the Forest Positive Coalition of Action
The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) Forest Positive Coalition of Action is a CEO-led initiative representing 21 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 4.6 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 more than 55 manufacturer and retailer CEOs. For more information, please visit: www.theconsumergoodsforum.com.

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