Timber and pulp industries are lagging in transparency regarding their zero-deforestation and traceability commitments, a new report shows.
The report, produced by the conservation nonprofit Zoological Society of London (ZSL), indicates that most of the top 100 companies in these sectors fail to disclose essential environmental, social and governance (ESG) data, which puts them out of step with international targets and upcoming European Union regulations aimed at curbing deforestation.
The ZSL report found that timber and pulp companies scored an average of just 24% on their commitments to and reporting of sustainable and ethical practices, a significant drop from 37% in 2017, when assessments first began. The decline underscores a lack of public engagement with critical ESG issues, including deforestation, biodiversity loss and the rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs), the ZSL press release notes. While about half of the surveyed companies have made commitments to zero deforestation, just over 14% actually monitor deforestation within their operations.
Mongabay reached out to the International Tropical Timber Association, based in Japan, but the organization declined to comment, saying they had not yet had a chance to review the report.
Deforestation and forest degradation are responsible for roughly 15-20% of global carbon emissions. In contrast, intact forests absorb roughly one-third of the carbon dioxide released by fossil fuels annually, making forest protection a critical element in the global fight against climate change.
At the 26th U.N. Climate Change Conference of the Parties, also known as COP26, held in Glasgow in 2021, 145 countries agreed to a goal of zero deforestation by 2030. Two years later, in June 2023, the European Union introduced a law to prevent imports of seven forest-related commodities most associated with deforestation. The European Union Deforestation Regulation, (EUDR) requires that companies selling their goods in the EU must provide evidence that their products didn’t come from land deforested since 2020.
Despite these measures, the ZSL report found that only one out of 88 timber companies published georeferenced maps of all the forests they source from, making it challenging to verify that their products are not contributing to deforestation. Although the EUDR does not mandate public disclosure of such information, increased transparency would enhance accountability and complement the EUDR, Sam Ross, ZSL’s sustainable business project analyst who led the assessment, says in the press release.
“This void of information can make it incredibly difficult to identify links between companies, and increases the risk of companies sourcing from bad actors in the supply chain without being held accountable,” Ross says.
Transparency is unlikely to come from the pulp and timber sectors alone, Ross adds. “It’s clear that companies aren’t going to vastly increase their public disclosures on their own accord. When there’s a clear pressure from an investor, there is a much clearer and more direct incentive for companies to actually improve their reporting,” he tells Mongabay in a phone call.
Banner image: courtesy of David Johnston, ZSL
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