As with the financial firms, many of the companies with deforestation policies were not reporting progress sufficiently. Of the 233 firms with some form of commitment, 40 have provided no progress data at all within the past 12 months. A further 50 have reported on progress for some, but not all, of the commodities covered by their commitment. No companies publicly disclosed how many hectares of deforestation they have identified across the entirety of their supply chain network.
Among the businesses to recieve Global Canopy’s lowest ratings this year are fashion brands Steve Madden, Jimmy Choo and Versace; retailers SPAR International and Deichmann; restaurant firms Domino’s and Inspire Brands; food manufacturers Land O’Lakes and Kikkoman; luggage giant Samsonite and health and beauty major Natura&Co, which owns the Body Shop.
“As major consumer governments start to translate these commitments into hard and fast legislation, businesses which have not taken deforestation seriously are woefully unprepared and face real risks,” Global Canopy’s Mardas added. The UK Government has notably implemented a “comply-or-explain” requirement for corporates with multinational supply chains procuring forest-risk commodities.
Global Canopy notes, in the report, that businesses based in Asia and North America are generally falling behind their European counterparts in terms of tackling deforestation. Companies with public deforestation commitments and reports covering all commodities include GlaxoSmithKline, Sainsbury’s, Marks & Spencer Group, Tesco, Unilever, Morrisons and Kingfisher, which owns retail brands including Screwfix.
