COP26: Wilmar & ADM commit to a Sectoral Roadmap

Wilmar and ADM, joint venture partners of Olenex, have issued a joint statement at COP26 with the rest of the ten largest global agricultural trading and processing companies.

At the World Leaders Summit on Forests and Land Use they pledged their commitment to a sectoral roadmap for enhanced supply chain action that is consistent with a 1.5 degrees Celsius pathway to COP27. The statement reinforces the urgency for collective action to identify solutions at scale for halting deforestation and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The ten companies – alongside Wilmar and ADM – are Amaggi, Bunge, Cargill, Golden Agri-Resources, JBS, Louis Dreyfus Company, Olam International and Viterra.

The joint statement follows a roundtable meeting in October 2021 convened by John Kerry, US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, and Kwasi Kwarteng, UK Secretary of State for the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) – supported by the Tropical Forest Alliance and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Ongoing collaboration to COP27 will be supported by these parties.

John Kerry said: “Eliminating deforestation from global agricultural supply chains is critical to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 and limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. This joint statement from leading agricultural trading companies is a terrific example of the power of markets to end deforestation and drive climate action. We look forward to the hard but necessary work to help deliver a concrete roadmap for achieving the companies’ ambitious goal by COP27.”

Kwasi Kwarteng said: “Agricultural companies are already playing an important role in driving innovation to feed more people across the world while using less land. It’s vital that businesses continue working with governments and farmers to identify practical solutions to protecting our planet. With the UN COP26 summit in Glasgow underway, it’s fantastic to see some of the world’s largest agricultural trading companies working together to cut their emissions right across the supply chain, helping to ensure we keep the 1.5 degrees target in reach.”

Olenex, as a European market leader in refined vegetable oils and fats, puts great effort into the sustainability of our supply chain. We monitor and verify our supply continuously to make sure that the producers we buy from respect nature, their environment, human rights, and apply honest trading practices. In order to do so, we are using five different methods: No Deforestation, No Peat, and No Exploitation Policy (NDPE), Aggregator Refinery Transformation programme (ART), Supplier Reporting Tool (SRT), Supplier Group Compliance (SGC) and Grievance procedure.

In line with our No Deforestation, No Peat and No Exploitation (NDPE) commitments, Wilmar International is currently preparing to align our climate goals with a 1.5-degree pathway by COP27. We are developing comprehensive targets to reduce negative climate impacts from our value chain.

This includes reducing emissions in our own operations and supply chains, addressing deforestation, halting biodiversity loss and improving livelihoods for farmers and smallholders within these climate-smart production models. These comprehensive targets will add to our existing climate-related achievements. They include achieving an overall 24.4% reduction of GHG emissions intensity for our palm oil mills in FY2020 from our FY2016 baseline, and achieving 56% energy from renewable sources in our FY2020 total group energy consumption.

ADM is fully committed to ending deforestation, and to preserving biodiversity and water resources in our supply chains. This includes holding our suppliers accountable for producing commodities in ways that do not further deforestation in order to reduce impact on climate change. We believe that sustainable, ethical and responsible production by the food industry is critical for curbing global warming, conserving native biodiversity, and upholding the rights of indigenous communities and smallholders. We aim to eliminate deforestation from all of our supply chains by 2030.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that 23% of global GHG emissions are associated with land use, including 11% of global GHG emissions from deforestation and the conversion of natural ecosystems. The commitment from these companies builds on the existing initiatives to define a pathway to meet the 1.5 degrees Celsius target, working in tandem with other supply chain actors.

For more information, please visit https://olenex.com/sustainability.