FOREST FOOTPRINT DISCLOSURE 2010
EUROPEAN BUYERS MEET LATIN AMERICAN SUPPLIERS OF COMMODITIES LINKED TO DEFORESTATION
EMBARGO: 8th June 2010
The Forest Footprint Disclosure Project ( www.forestdisclosure.com) has chosen the financial capital of South America to launch its 2010 Disclosure Request. On 7th and 8th of June, European buyers and investors will be meeting regional suppliers in São Paulo to discuss opportunities to minimise the risks of commodities linked with recent deforestation in global supply chains. The key forest risk commodities in debate will be timber, soy, biofuels, beef and leather.
The FFD 2010 cycle aims to have a bigger participation of Latin American companies, and is happy to announce the support of the Brazilian meatpacker Marfrig for this year. “To support the FFD project is a important part of Marfrig Alimentos contribution and commitment to reducing deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. We encourage all to join in this effort to find sustainable ways for cattle ranching production in the area,” states the company.
On the 7 June, The Forest Footprint Disclosure together with the World Resources Institute and the The Forest Trust will be hosting a meeting at the Hilton São Paulo Morumbi Hotel on how the timber market may be restrained by new legislation being approved in the United States and Europe.
On the 8th of June, the Santander Group together with Amigos da Terra and FFD will launch the 2010 Forest Footprint Disclosure Request with the presence of Freddie Woolfe from Hermes Equity Ownership Service, José Luciano Penido - CEO of Fibria, and Jan Kees Vis – Director of Sustainable Agriculture in Unilever. ( Please find events’ agendas on page 2 and 3)
"Sustainability will be at the heart of Unilever’s business strategy towards 2020. Supply chain transparency is essential for creating business sustainability out of supply sustainability. Initiatives such as FFD help business understand the need for supply chain transparency’ says Jan Kees Vis.
Support of 43 global investors representing over $4 trillion of assets under management
The 2010 launch of the Forest Footprint Disclosure Request is currently endorsed by 43 global investors representing over $4 trillion of assets under management. All of these Financial Institutions have committed to understand and monitor the deforestation risk in their asset portfolios. On their behalf FFD will be asking this year 300 of the world’s largest organisations in sectors linked to the major forest risk commodities to voluntarily disclose their understanding of forest risk in their operations or supply chain. Sourcing products that contribute to deforestation in a business supply chain can create unexpected risks. Financial institutions who are concerned with identifying and accounting for emerging risks inherent in the links between climate change, tropical forests, and agricultural commodities continue to sign up to the FFD project.
“Hermes EOS provides company engagement services to some of the largest pension funds in the world. The world’s forests play a vital role in reducing the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and are therefore key in efforts to address climate change. It is essential that usage of them is sustainable. Hermes actively supports the role of FFD to improve the transparency of companies whose supply chains are associated with the commodities linked to deforestation at all levels”, says Freddie Woolfe from Hermes Equity Ownership Services.
“Forward looking CEOs need to show their investors that they are looking after the long term, and not just at the next quarter. If a company has built a business model out of an assumption that agricultural land can expand forever into rainforests, then that business will not last”. Says Tracey Campbell, Director of FFD, who spent over twenty years in the capital markets as an investment analyst and fund manager specialising in the food industry.
AGENDAS
7th June: FOREST FOOTPRINT DISCLOSURE TIMBER EVENT
Location: Sala Moema, Hilton Sao Paulo Morumbi, Av. das Nações Unidas, 12901 São Paulo
2.30 pm - Introductory Remarks : Liz Crosbie, Technical Adviser to FFD and Founder of
Strategic Environmental Consulting.
2.45 pm - United States Drivers for Timber : Forest Legality Alliance Adam Grant, World
Resources Institute.
3.10 pm - Lacey, Case Study Discussion: Forest Legality Alliance, Andrea Johnson, Senior
Campaigner, EIA
3.30 pm - European Drivers for Timber: Rachel Butler, Head of Sustainability, Timber Trade
Federation
3.50 pm - Meeting Market Requirements: Xavier Andrillon, Project Officer, The Forest Trust
4.30 pm - The Forest Footprint Disclosure Project: Tracey Campbell, Director FFD
4.45 pm - Q&A session
6.00 PM Cocktail reception in Moema Foyer
8th June: Launch of 2010 FOREST FOOTPRINT DISCLOSURE REQUEST
Location: Auditório Torre Santander , Av. Juscelino Kubitschek, 2.235 - Vila Olímpia, SP
6:00 pm - Welcome address, by Santander bank
6:10 pm - Update on Deforestation and the Brazilian Context: Roberto Smeraldi and Andrew
Mitchell
6:20 pm - Video of FFD
6:25 pm - The issues of an international buyer of sustainable product, Jan Kees Vis, Global
Supply Chain Director, Unilever
6.35 pm - The issues of a producer of sustainable product, José Luciano Penido, CEO of Fíbria
6.45 pm - Presentation of the second cycle of FFD Project, by Tracey Campbell
6.55 pm - Why Do Institutional Investors want to know a Company’s Forest Footprint? Freddie
Woolfe, from Hermes Equity Ownership Services
- Ends -
Notes to Editors
1) The Forest Footprint Disclosure Project is the brainchild of the Global Canopy Programme,
supported by DFID, the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, the
Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation and the Waterloo Foundation. It includes representatives of
the Princes' Rainforests Project, UNEP Finance Initiative and the investment community on its
Steering Committee.
2) The full list of investors endorsing the FFD project can be found at:
http://www.forestdisclosure.com/page.asp?p=4726
For further information, please visit www.forestdisclosure.com or contact:
Carolina Elia on c.elia [at] globalcanopy.org
