Executive summary – Dec 2021

At the COP26 World Leaders Summit on Forests and Land Use, all six Soft Commodities Forum (SCF) members communicated their joint commitment to develop, by COP27, a sector-wide roadmap for enhanced supply chain action that is consistent with a 1.5° C pathway.

This commitment is indicative of an ongoing sector-wide transformation, to which the SCF has been contributing since its creation in 2018, by joining forces to identify solutions at scale to halt the soy-driven conversion of native vegetation in the Brazilian Cerrado. Now more than ever our work is fundamental to driving positive change in soy supply chains.

To achieve our mission, we are working to establish mechanisms that provide transparency on soy sourcing and its links to deforestation and the conversion of natural ecosystems. We are also creating incentives for producers to maintain forests and transform the landscapes in which they live through collaboration among traders and across the sector.

Our bi-annual progress reports aim to disclose to external stakeholders the efforts undertaken and progress made in this work. All achievements for this December 2021 report, announced for completion in June, fall under the SCF’s three workstreams: Monitor Land Use, Engage Stakeholders and Transform Landscapes.

The most noteworthy of our latest accomplishments encompass:

  • A new standardized reporting architecture for soy sourced by joint ventures;
  • A methodology to report on verified deforestation- and conversion-free soy;
  • An improved approach to support indirect suppliers in the adoption of monitoring systems;
  • A shared engagement and investment strategy – among SCF members and with other value chain stakeholders – to eliminate soy-driven deforestation and conversion in priority landscapes.

Our future work will continue to leverage the power of markets to support and incentivize deforestation- and conversion-free production, as well as drive climate action.