We all know that the planet is facing its most serious challenge yet – countering the devastating effects of climate change.
One issue is ensuring the sustainability of the ingredients in our global food supply chain. Often there is a lack of information on origin, asset location and deforestation risk. And with EU deforestation regulations in place, and other governments shifting closer to legislation, regulators have stricter requirements for evidence that farmers are growing products responsibly, with negligible risk of deforestation and land conversion.
One example is palm oil, an essential ingredient used a lot in cooking, and also by many manufacturers to make chocolate and ready-made meals. However, experts estimate that palm oil is responsible for more than 5% of all deforestation in tropical forests to date.
The Supply Chain Data Partnership
Ordnance Survey (OS) is the founding partner of an initiative called the Supply Chain Data Partnership (SCDP), formally established at COP27.
The partnership has been designed to develop and provide critical location insights for the assurance of global supply chains via a location register. It aims to provide enough confidence to certify the location of an asset, such as a farm, site or facility, so that buyers and investors can see that the asset owner is willing to be transparent and be monitored.
The SCDP will help tackle greenwashing by working to ensure efficient and trustworthy sustainability reporting, ensure public and private investors avoid high-risk investments and potential risks, while identifying plausible opportunities for green and sustainable investment.
So how does the SCDP work?
The SCDP seeks to provide a location dataset for global supply chains. These can inlcude palm oil, soy, cotton, rubber, mills, factories and wood-based packaging applications which the SCDP will add to a register. The register will allow the identification and verification of those assets, with follow-up monitoring over time.
Data and certificates associated with each verified asset owner will then sit on the new register, designed to meet global registry standards. Buyers and investors will then be able to access the tool, allowing them to make better decisions in their procurement, reducing risk and enabling assessment of impact and opportunity. Global brands will be able to engage directly with responsible suppliers to help expand their own sustainability and responsibility goals. This will assist with reducing emissions, biodiversity loss and environmental impact of supply chains, reduce unsustainable agricultural practices and land degradation through more effective monitoring and smart procurement contracts.
Last autumn, the SCDP passed its trial phase and reached a major milestone in developing a proof of concept for its location platform. This has shown how location data and technology can help sustainability initiatives succeed.
Next steps
Next steps for the SCDP include adding new use cases and scaling up from proof of concept to a Minimum Viable Product with anchor customers.
And while the SCDP continues its development, it has also been supporting a wider supply chain initiative with an even more inspirational, ambitious and influential goal.
Following COP28, Rewired Earth and Bankers for Net Zero announced ‘The Constellation’ . Over 40 entities supported the resolution, including OS. It is working at a higher level and aims to enable Government, financial services and companies to understand how to encourage, support and verify sustainable supply chains across the world. This forward-leaning organisation wants to transform financial markets into the most protective force on the planet, by driving transparency throughout global supply chains and investments by using the SDG framework.
As our climate changes we need to scale up our actions to decarbonise and protect valuable resources such as nature and water.
Whilst on that journey to net zero we also need to ensure we can create resilient supply chains, keep businesses functioning and support societal needs. We can only do that if we really know where things are happening on the planet and where things come from. Without that knowledge we can’t apply all that intelligence and action to ensure a sustainable future for nature and humanity. Fortunately, the SCDP and the Constellation are about getting us to that future and that better place, together.
For more information about the SCDP, contact donna.lyndsay@os.uk. Alternately, go to Rewired Earth | Get Involved for more information on the Constellation.
- Collaboration & Optimization
- Sustainability
