A spokesperson told FeedNavigator that part of the LDC's efforts to achieve that target will include deforestation and, where applicable, conversion risk assessments, followed by action prioritization with a focus on supply chains and regions with higher risks.
“To do so, we will work with global and/or local independent experts to audit and monitor progress in our supply chains. This will be a key priority in our work over the coming months and years.”
Michael Gelchie, chief executive, said LDC believes in a collaborative approach that considers the needs and concerns of all supply chain participants, particularly farmers.
“Eliminating deforestation and native vegetation conversation associated with agriculture is among the most significant contributions we can make to the world's 1.5°C Paris Agreement target to limit global warming."
Guy Hogge, LDC’s global head of sustainability, outlined how consumer goods companies, the financial community, and other stakeholders are increasingly making similar commitments, and that LDC would be working in concert with supply chain partners to achieve its target, focusing on product traceability, land use monitoring and third-party verification, and continual engagement with suppliers and farmers in its network.
Sustainability focused initiatives
The pledge, continued the company, builds on its other sustainability focused initiatives of recent years such as the development of product-specific sustainability codes and policies stipulating LDC’s commitment to conserve forests and native vegetation for commodities considered to be higher risk in relation to deforestation - namely coffee, palm and soy.
In the first half of 2021, LDC set new sustainability targets including continued efforts to drive increasingly sustainable practices in individual business lines, as well as a global commitment to measure scope 3 emissions and accelerate decarbonization across the group, led by its recently formed Carbon Solutions Platform.
LDC’s sustainability report for 2020, released last June, outlined how, in relation to palm sourcing, it had enforced its ‘No Deforestation, No Peat and No Exploitation’ (NDPE) policy across its supply chains, that it had achieved 100% traceability to mill level for directly sourced palm and 96% for indirectly sourced palm and that it had trained 1,000+ smallholder farmers in sustainable farming practices.
The publication also flagged how the trader had enforced its NDPE policy across its soy supply chains, and that it reached 88% traceability to farm in Brazil for direct purchases, mapped land use dynamics in Argentina and its sourcing profile in Paraguay.
