Unwanted commerce: How retailers are selling forest destruction

A new study finds forests could absorb vastly more carbon with better protection – Copyright AFP/File MAURO PIMENTEL

A new study indicates that retail giants like Costco, Walmart, Home Depot, Kroger, and others are profiting from harms to biodiverse and climate-critical forests. This is by selling toilet paper, paper towels, and other goods sourced from climate-critical forests.

The charge is based on a new NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) report. The report is titled Selling the World’s Forests, and it details how top retailers neglect to stock store shelves with the numerous available sustainably-made options.

“Even when consumers want to vote with their dollars for sustainable goods, all too often retailers don’t carry them, depriving people of the opportunity to choose the products they want in their homes,” states Ashley Jordan, who is the corporate campaign advocate at NRDC and author of the report.

Jordan adds: “Retailers need to step up and provide access to truly sustainable products for their shoppers, because how can you vote for something that’s not even on the ballot?”

Citing an example, Jordan explains that the logging industry clearcuts millions of acres of forests each year in part to make the ultimate disposable, single-use items: toilet paper, facial tissues and paper towels.

In its annual Issue with Tissue report, the NRDC has documented the way Procter & Gamble and other companies do harm by making and selling products made almost entirely of forest fibres.

There is hope for those who wish to see more sustainable living. Jordan indicates how the report shows that the market is shifting, and investors, policymakers, and consumers alike are demanding that retailers take responsibility for their part in securing a liveable future for the planet and curbing the mounting financial risk presented by a business-as-usual approach to forests.

Globally, Jordan notes, about 250 million acres of net forest area have been lost—and likely an even larger area degraded—over the past two decades, the majority of which can be tied to the production of just a handful of global commodities that end up in a range of consumer goods.

In another example, Jordan points out the extent that brands linked to environmental and human rights abuses in Indonesia are still available at informed major retailers like Home Depot, Kroger, Lowe’s, and Walmart. 

The report goes on to spotlight pioneering shareholder actions at companies like Procter & Gamble, Costco, Home Depot, and Lowe’s that reflect growing concerns in the investment community around forest- and climate-related impacts.

As alternatives, Jordan says the recommendations for retailers include the following nine-point action plan:

1. Consider alternatives to forest-risk commodities 
2. Adopt commitments to ‘No Deforestation, No Peatland, and No Exploitation’ (NDPE) and no forest degradation across all forest-risk commodity supply chains, including mandatory requirements for all suppliers to adopt these policies. 
3. Require that all suppliers that provide forest-risk commodities used in private-label products and those manufactured by brands obtain the free, prior, and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples who could be impacted by their operations. 
4. Establish and implement a zero-tolerance policy for attacks or threats against environmental and human rights defenders and require the same for all brands they sell. 
5. Account and set targets for reducing its Scope 3 emissions, including those associated with the products it sells. 
6. Publish an annual forest footprint disclosure and require the same for all brands they sell. 
7. Establish clear, transparent, and accessible grievance mechanisms, including protocols for addressing supplier or brand noncompliance. 
8. Actively engage with civil society stakeholders (including environmental NGOs) to inform company policy development and implementation and help ensure alignment with accepted best practices.
9. Support public policies that set standards for responsible forest sourcing. 

These sorts of measures can help to ‘green’ retail and its reliance on tree-based products.