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Search On 22nd June 2022, The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) Forest Positive Coalition was represented at the Oslo Tropical Forest Forum in a session entitled “From Reducing Risks to Forest Positive Transformation: Protecting Forests in Commodity-producing Regions.” The session was facilitated by the Coalition’s strategic and technical partner, the Tropical Forest Alliance, and the Coalition was represented by member Cathy Pieters, Vice President Sustainable Ingredients, Mondelēz International. Mondelēz is also the Coalition’s co-chair.
Cathay introduced the Forest Positive Coalition of Action to the group and its ambition to drive collective and transformative change to remove deforestation, forest degradation and conversion from key commodity supply chains. She emphasized the Coalition’s focus on developing forest positive businesses, which requires a whole mindset change, and collaborating in production landscapes, where the Coalition believes companies have a responsibility to drive people-, nature-, and climate-positive outcomes on-the-ground. Providing updates on the Coalition’s progress, she shared how all of the Coalition members are now investing in landscape- and/or jurisdictional-level initiatives to help support and scale up these critical endeavours.
“All of our companies rely on this planet to deliver the commodities that we need to grow and sustain our business, but also not just the planet but also the people who are a part of and employed in our supply chains, and of course most of all the people who live and work in the forests,” Cathy said. “We believe that beyond changing our practices in the supply chain, it’s important we ensure the wider environments can really thrive, planet and people.”
Cathy was joined on stage by Secretary of Enviornment for the state of Pará, Brazil, Mauro O’de Almeida; Christopher Stewart, Head of Global Sustainability at olam Food Ingredients; Martha de Sá, CEO of Vert Asset Management; Matt Leggett, Associate Director, Sustainable Commodities and Private Sector Engagement, the Wildlife Conservation Society. The session was facilitated by the Tropical Forest Alliance (TFA) and moderated by Petra Tanos, Head of Private Sector Engagement and Strategic Partnerships, TFA.
A livestream recording of the session is available here.
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.
