Palm oil suppliers, buyers and campaigners have agreed a set of principles for meeting targets for eliminating deforestation from their operations and supply chains.
Two methods, known as the High Carbon Stock Approach and the High Carbon Stock Study, have converged and a revised toolkit representing the new approach will be published in early 2017.
The agreement has been signed by palm oil companies including Asian Agri, Cargill and Musim Mas, and campaigners Greenpeace, Rainforest Action Network and WWF.
Meanwhile, a new tool has been launched to enable companies, financial institutions and governments to better understand and address the social and environmental impacts linked to their supply chains.
Transparency for Sustainable Economies (Trase) draws on production, trade and customs data to reveal the flows of commodities that are driving deforestation worldwide.
Starting with Brazilian soy, it will expand over the next five years to cover 70% of total production of palm oil, soy, cattle and timber. Trase was developed by the Stockholm Environment Institute and the Global Canopy Programme.
