The Accountability Framework initiative is inviting stakeholder input to refine its guidance and strengthen its impact on responsible supply chains
It’s no secret that agriculture and forestry are major contributors to deforestation, biodiversity loss and human rights violations. Yet finding a solution is not so simple, as companies work to manage risks across vast global supply chains. Building responsible supply chains is a must, but the path forward is not always clear.
This is where the Accountability Framework initiative (the AFi) comes in. Established in 2017, the AFi has a mission to transform agricultural and forestry supply chains to be protective of forests, natural ecosystems, and human rights. The initiative does this by providing the Accountability Framework as a common global roadmap for responsible supply chains that offers clear guidance for companies while helping to align standards and action sector wide.
Now, five years after the Accountability Framework was first published, the AFi team has announced a new public consultation to refine its guidance and ensure its continued value to companies and other stakeholders.
The value of collaboration and alignment
The AFi is led by a coalition of more than 20 environmental and human rights organisations that have worked to achieve consensus regarding the elements of responsible supply chains. Building outward from its civil society coalition, the initiative collaborates with diverse stakeholders – including companies, industry groups, service providers and governments – to put the Accountability Framework into practice across a wide range of supply chain and policy contexts. This helps to accelerate action and establish alignment so that companies can manage for the growing range of sustainability targets and mandates in an integrated and efficient manner.
To date, hundreds of companies have applied the Accountability Framework to help establish or strengthen their sustainability policies, implementation measures, and monitoring and reporting practices. AFi’s director, Jeff Milder, notes that “the framework helps companies act with greater confidence by providing a single integrated reference on responsible supply chains that reflects key international norms, civil society consensus, and market expectations”.
The framework has been adopted by companies spanning the entire value chain. Examples include Bayer, BMW Group, Cargill, L'Oréal, Nestlé and Sainsburys. Michèle Zollinger, Nestlé’s global sustainability sourcing for pulp and paper, and climate forest lead, describes the framework as a “valuable reference” for the company’s deforestation-free supply chain commitment. She also adds that the AFi has helped “increase the alignment and comparability of definitions such as ‘deforestation’ and ‘conversion-free' across various tools and frameworks”, supporting Nestlé’s work to achieve responsible supply chains. The alignment, she points out, is “critical” to help the company “move more quickly from setting goals to having a positive impact on the ground”.
The framework has also been applied to support the development of more than 70 other sustainability guidelines, tools, policies and reporting standards across all major forest-risk commodity sectors. Milder notes that “these applications of the framework have gone far toward strengthening alignment, including in the realm of corporate disclosure and performance assessment”.
Updating the Accountability Framework
As the landscape of regulations, market demands and sustainability priorities evolves, so too must the Accountability Framework. It is in this context that the AFi has launched the new public consultation process.
Milder says: “We’re updating the Accountability Framework so it continues to serve as the premier global reference for responsible supply chains”. The updates will add “more clarity and detail on key topics that are currently areas of challenge or ambiguity for companies. Based on the public consultation, the new guidance will reflect input from the AFi’s users while incorporating recent learnings and innovations”, Milder says.
The revisions will also reflect new policy and regulatory developments. “By following the updated guidance, companies will be able to address multiple market, stakeholder and regulatory mandates in an integrated manner” says Milder.
The public consultation focuses on several sets of topics.
Supply chain traceability, assessment and control
Assessing compliance at the level of the production unit (e.g., the entire farm, plantation or forest management unit).
Introducing more specific criteria for traceability and compliance assessment at the level of landscapes, jurisdictions, or sourcing areas.
Providing additional guidance on the uses, limitations, and options for supplementing certification as a tool for responsible sourcing.
Strengthening the use of supplier control systems to manage and verify compliance across complex, multi-tiered supply chains.
Supply chain management
Embedding sustainability criteria in supplier selection processes and purchase control systems
Tailoring responses to non-compliance based on the supply chain context, severity of non-compliance, opportunities for remediation and improvement processes.
Clarifying the pathways for non-compliant suppliers to re-enter supply chains and re-attain compliance based on remediation and improvement following deforestation, conversion or human rights harms.
Providing guidelines for responsibly terminating supplier relationships, when necessary, to mitigate harm to workers, communities and ecosystems.
Verification
Clarifying the roles of different types of verification (including second-party and third-party verification) to fulfil different verification use cases, including both for internal management and for external validation of compliance, progress and associated claims.
Establishing clear parameters for verified deforestation-free product volumes to help ensure credibility and alignment.
Targets and progress
Highlighting the value of short-term milestones alongside long-term targets to support momentum, stepwise progress and accountability.
Specifying criteria for what constitutes fulfilment of a responsible supply chain commitment.
Providing more detailed guidelines on achieving and reporting incremental progress for product volumes that currently lack sufficient traceability or control, such as derivatives and commodities embedded in animal feed.
The AFi is also running two webinars on Tuesday 28th January to present an overview of the framework updating process and the topics being consulted.
Jeff Milder says the initiative is committed to continue to develop the Accountability Framework in a collaborative manner, reflecting diverse perspectives as well as the challenges and opportunities of achieving responsible supply chains in different contexts. “We look forward to hearing from framework users and other stakeholders through the public consultation process. This input will help the Accountability Framework continue to serve as an overarching common global reference for responsible supply chains.”
The consultation is open until 14th March 2025.
This content is supported by the Accountability Framework initiative
London
19th - 20th March 2025