ABSTRACT

Global agrifood companies’ sustainability strategies have evolved to increasingly rely on self-set voluntary commitments to address the persistent social and environmental challenges embedded in commodity supply chains. While state actors continue to guide sustainability efforts within their jurisdictions, the onus is increasingly placed on corporations who pronounce their own measures to eliminate deforestation and other unethical practices associated with their business operations. In this contribution, we analyze the publicly available action plans from all corporate signatories to the Cocoa and Forests Initiative (CFI), a novel zero-deforestation commitment that focuses mainly on the world’s top cocoa producers: Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. We construct a CFI index to systematically compare company pledges and uncover any relationships between the strength or quality of a company’s CFI action plan and key company characteristics. We find that, contrary to what the literature would suggest, the consumer-facing and high brand value firms are pronouncing less stringent zero-deforestation commitments as compared to their upstream partners. We also find key gaps in the CFI, including the lack of clarity surrounding definitions and timelines, neglect of indirect supply chains, and unclear geospatial precision.

摘要

全球农业食品公司的可持续发展战略越来越依赖于自我设定的自愿承诺，以应对商品供应链中持续存在的社会和环境挑战。虽然国家行为者继续在其管辖范围内指导可持续发展工作，但越来越多的公司承担了责任，他们宣布自己的措施来消除与其业务运营相关的森林砍伐和其他不道德行为。在这篇文章中，我们分析了可可和森林倡议 (CFI) 的所有企业签署方的公开行动计划，这是一项新颖的零毁林承诺，主要关注世界顶级可可生产国：科特迪瓦和加纳。我们构建了一个 CFI 指数来系统地比较公司承诺，并揭示公司 CFI 行动计划的强度或质量与关键公司特征之间的任何关系。我们发现，与文献所暗示的相反，与上游合作伙伴相比，面向消费者和高品牌价值的公司正在宣布不太严格的零毁林承诺。我们还发现 CFI 中的主要差距，包括定义和时间表不明确、忽视间接供应链以及地理空间精度不明确。与上游合作伙伴相比，面向消费者和高品牌价值的公司宣布的零毁林承诺不太严格。我们还发现 CFI 中的主要差距，包括定义和时间表不明确、忽视间接供应链以及地理空间精度不明确。与上游合作伙伴相比，面向消费者和高品牌价值的公司宣布的零毁林承诺不太严格。我们还发现 CFI 中的主要差距，包括定义和时间表不明确、忽视间接供应链以及地理空间精度不明确。