Using supply chain data to monitor zero deforestation commitments: an assessment of progress in the Brazilian soy sector.

Abstract

Zero deforestation commitments (ZDCs) are voluntary initiatives where companies or countries pledge to eliminate deforestation from their supply chains. These commitments offer much promise for sustainable commodity production, but are undermined by a lack of transparency about their coverage and impacts. Here, using state-of-the-art supply chain data, we introduce an approach to evaluate the impact of ZDCs, linking traders and international markets to commodity-associated deforestation in the sub-national jurisdictions from which they source. We focus on the Brazilian soy sector, where we find that ZDC coverage is increasing, but under-represents the Cerrado biome where most soy-associated deforestation currently takes place. Though soy-associated deforestation declined in the Amazon after the introduction of the Soy Moratorium, we observe no change in the exposure of companies or countries adopting ZDCs to soy-associated deforestation in the Cerrado. We further assess the formulation and implementation of these ZDCs and identify several systematic weaknesses which must be addressed to increase the likelihood that they achieve meaningful reductions in deforestation in future. As the 2020 deadline for several of these commitments approaches, our approach can provide independent monitoring of progress toward the goal of ending commodity-associated deforestation.

Rapid expansion of human impact on natural land in South America since 1985

“…Given the tripling of cropland area over the study period and the likely continued expansion of the commodity crop footprint (41,42), an understanding of the interplay of crop and pastureland is needed (43). While policies such as the soy moratorium in Brazil have proven to be nominally effective (19,44,45), leakage effects and the displacement of other land uses such as pastures into deforestation frontiers illustrate the need for more comprehensive monitoring (46). Our estimate of annual tree cover loss in Brazil since 2004, the year of minimum Amazon deforestation (47), averaged more than 1 Mha/year, with 70% being converted to pasture, suggesting a sizeable loophole for narrowly tailored policies.…”

The origin, supply chain, and deforestation risk of Brazil’s beef exports

“…Despite a growing body of research, we still have a poor understanding of the impact of commodity supply chains on socioeconomic outcomes and environmental impacts in producer regions ( 9 ), the relative role of international and domestic markets in driving these impacts ( 10 ), and whether supply chain initiatives, such as corporate sustainable sourcing practices or zero deforestation commitments are achieving improvements on the ground ( 11 ). Previous research efforts have relied on data that are limited either in scale or in detail ( 12 ), being case studies of a specific company’s supply chain or global analyses using coarse national-level statistics and lacking detail on supply chain configurations—the companies who mediate the production, processing, storage, and trade of these products and are key to the implementation of more sustainable trade and sourcing practices.…”

“…There is therefore an urgent need for data on commodity supply chains that identify subnational sourcing regions, include information on supply chain actors, and provide wall-to-wall coverage for all export markets ( 9 , 12 ). These data can: 1) generate more accurate assessments of the role of international trade in driving positive and negative impacts, including development, land use change, biodiversity loss, and carbon emissions; 2) reveal the connection between supply chain actors and specific places where their sourcing and operations have a significant footprint; 3) guide engagement by key companies and consumer markets who have leverage for driving improvements on the ground; and 4) improve monitoring of actors’ impacts over time and their progress on efforts to implement sustainable sourcing practices ( 11 ).…”