Summary
For the past four years, the Accountability Framework initiative (AFi) and CDP (a member of the AFi Steering Group) have worked together to set and clarify best practice for corporate reporting on progress towards eliminating deforestation and related environmental and human rights risks from commodity supply chains. The Accountability Framework provides a common basis of good practice for responsible supply chains while CDP’s forests questionnaire enables companies to clearly report on their progress to eliminate deforestation and manage deforestation risks. To amplify and clarify essential action and disclosure by companies, CDP’s forests questionnaire is aligned with the Accountability Framework’s principles, definitions, and guidance. Companies that follow the Accountability Framework will be better able to report through CDP, and companies that disclose comprehensively through the CDP forests questionnaire will also be reporting effectively against the Accountability Framework. Based on data from CDP’s 2021 forests disclosures, this report shows that most companies disclosing on their commodity supply chains have started to put governance and operational systems in place to understand and mitigate deforestation and related risks. However, these systems currently lack the scale, scope and rigour necessary to effectively address deforestation and ecosystem conversion associated with agricultural and forest commodity production and trade.