PriyaPatelTLDR:
- Global Canopy’s ‘Forest 500’ report finds that 20% of the world’s largest financiers lack deforestation policies.
- Companies like BlackRock and Vanguard are named as continual laggards in addressing deforestation risks.
A new analysis by NGO Global Canopy has revealed that major finance and consumer goods companies are failing to address deforestation risks, despite a decade of warnings. The ‘Forest 500’ report looks at 350 companies involved in forest-risk industries and 150 of their biggest financiers to measure action taken to halt deforestation and forest degradation. It found that one in five major financiers do not have public policies or pledges related to deforestation, including BlackRock, Vanguard, and Macquarie.
The report highlights a group of “continual laggards” in the finance sector, including firms from North America and the Asia-Pacific region, who are “willfully ignoring” deforestation risks. Only 15% of financial firms with deforestation commitments ensure that these commitments are comprehensive and cover all forest-risk commodities. Companies like Schroders, Rabobank, and BNP Paribas are named as leading in this respect.
Looking at the 350 companies involved in forest-risk industries, the report found that three in ten do not have any deforestation-related policies or targets. This includes well-known companies like Adidas, Ikea, and Starbucks. Global Canopy stresses the importance of comprehensive and publicly reported progress in addressing deforestation risks in supply chains.
The report calls for regulation to drive the necessary shift towards addressing deforestation, citing the EU’s EUDR policy package as a positive example. Global Canopy urges the US and UK to follow the EU’s lead in implementing anti-deforestation regulation. Despite some progress, there are concerns about slow implementation and gaps in coverage, particularly in addressing legal deforestation practices in other countries.
