Forest Footprint Disclosure Project 2011 Annual Review

The third annual report on how companies are disclosing their impacts on the world’s forests finds that more companies across industries are embracing transparency in their supply chains, although the oil & gas sector as a whole falls far short.

From the introduction to the report, by Andrew W. Mitchell, Chairman of the Forest Footprint Disclosure Project:

The ultimate purpose of the Forest Footprint Disclosure Project is to reduce global deforestation. There are compelling reasons to do this: 1.4 billion of the world’s poor in developing countries depend on tropical forests for their survival, more than half of the world’s biodiversity exists there and the subsequent loss of ecosystem services due to continued deforestation has been estimated to cost US$2-5 trillion annually.

These services underpin food, energy, water, health and climate security for all of us. Land use change releases more than a billion tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere annually; much of this caused by the clearance and burning of tropical forests for soft commodities such as beef, soy, palm oil, biofuels, paper and pulp. Most importantly, forest conversion is a permenant loss of natural capital and is a mis-valuation on the global balance sheet that we can ill afford.

The leaders by sector in this year’s review are:

• Basic Materials: Stora Enso Oyj
• Clothing Accessories & Footwear: Nike Inc
• Food & Drug Retailers: J. Sainsbury plc
• Food Products & Soft Drinks: Nestlé SA and Unilever
• General Retailers: Marks & Spencer plc
• Industrials, Construction & Autos: Dalhoff Larsen & Horneman (DLH A/S)
• Personal Care & Household Goods: Kimberly-Clark Corporation
• Travel & Leisure: British Airways
• Farming & Fishing: Grupo André Maggi
• Media: Reed Elsevier
• Oil & Gas: Greenergy International Ltd.
• Utilities: Drax Group