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Protecting forests

We are committed to protecting forests and working towards sourcing only from verified deforestation and conversion free areas.

Deforestation contributes to climate change, biodiversity loss, and the disruption of ecosystems. It’s vital we play our part in protecting nature in at-risk landscapes. 

Find out more in our Sustainability ReportDownload the report

The bigger picture

7.6 billion

1/3

tonnes of CO2e absorbed by forests annually.1

The world has lost one-third of its forest – an area twice the size of the United States.2

Our approach to protecting forests

We have a responsibility to play our part in protecting forests. We’re doing this through the choices we make when we source products, by working with industry and by supporting initiatives that tackle deforestation. We’re prioritising the forest risk commodities that are most closely linked to deforestation around the world – soy, palm oil, timber, cattle products, coffee, cocoa and natural rubber. Protecting forests is a vital part of the "Protecting nature" pillar of our Planet Plan.

Focusing on our seven key commodities

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Timber

Commitment: 100% of assessed lines of paper/wood products to be FSC/PEFC or from a recycled source. 100% deforestation free by the end of 2025. This includes all forms of deforestation (legal and illegal) and with a cut-off of 2020.
Tesco actively supports the leading wood certification schemes. 100% of our own brand wood and paper products are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), or from recycled sources.

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Beef

After several years of seeking to improve industry standards, we became the first UK supermarket to withdraw from Brazilian beef due to deforestation concerns in 2018, and Tesco UK and ROI only sell own brand fresh beef sourced from British and Irish cattle.

Pexels Pixabay 50707

Coffee, cocoa and natural rubber

Commitment: 100% deforestation free for all own-brand coffee, cocoa and natural rubber by the end of 2025. This includes all forms of deforestation (legal and illegal) and with a cut-off of 2020.
Coffee, cocoa, and natural rubber are sourced in smaller volumes than our priority four commodities, but we still recognise there are steps we can take to minimise their forest impacts.
For example, all of the coffee we sell in our UK stores, and coffee ingredients used in our own brand products, is certified as Fairtrade or Rainforest Alliance.

Soybean in a field

Soy

Commitment: 100% of soy from verified deforestation and conversion free sourcing areas by the end of 2025. This includes all forms of deforestation (legal and illegal) and with a cut-off of 2020.
Tesco plays an important role in the soy supply chain since soy feeds much of the meat, fish, eggs, dairy and other animal products that we sell in our stores.
Although Tesco is a large retailer, we only use a tiny fraction of global soy production, which means we need to work with others to drive change. This is why Tesco and other organisations founded the UK Soy Manifesto, which commits its signatories, representing ~60% of soy use in the UK, to ensure all imported soy is deforestation and conversion-free by 2025 at the latest.

Pexels Ihsanaditya 1643371

Palm oil

Commitment: Becoming 100% verified deforestation and conversion free by the end of 2025 via sourcing 100% RSPO segregated. This includes all forms of deforestation (legal and illegal) and with a cut-off of 2020.
Palm oil plantations have been linked with deforestation and conversion, climate change and biodiversity loss. Certification is a key driver to making palm oil production more sustainable. Since 2018, 100% of our own brand products have used certified Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) sustainable palm oil.
We are a founding member of the Palm Oil Transparency Coalition (POTC) and an active member of the Retail Palm Oil Group (RPOG).

Pexels Japy 1563604

Timber

Commitment: 100% of assessed lines of paper/wood products to be FSC/PEFC or from a recycled source. 100% deforestation free by the end of 2025. This includes all forms of deforestation (legal and illegal) and with a cut-off of 2020.
Tesco actively supports the leading wood certification schemes. 100% of our own brand wood and paper products are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), or from recycled sources.

Pexels Pixabay 162240

Beef

After several years of seeking to improve industry standards, we became the first UK supermarket to withdraw from Brazilian beef due to deforestation concerns in 2018, and Tesco UK and ROI only sell own brand fresh beef sourced from British and Irish cattle.

Pexels Pixabay 50707

Coffee, cocoa and natural rubber

Commitment: 100% deforestation free for all own-brand coffee, cocoa and natural rubber by the end of 2025. This includes all forms of deforestation (legal and illegal) and with a cut-off of 2020.
Coffee, cocoa, and natural rubber are sourced in smaller volumes than our priority four commodities, but we still recognise there are steps we can take to minimise their forest impacts.
For example, all of the coffee we sell in our UK stores, and coffee ingredients used in our own brand products, is certified as Fairtrade or Rainforest Alliance.

Soybean in a field

Soy

Commitment: 100% of soy from verified deforestation and conversion free sourcing areas by the end of 2025. This includes all forms of deforestation (legal and illegal) and with a cut-off of 2020.
Tesco plays an important role in the soy supply chain since soy feeds much of the meat, fish, eggs, dairy and other animal products that we sell in our stores.
Although Tesco is a large retailer, we only use a tiny fraction of global soy production, which means we need to work with others to drive change. This is why Tesco and other organisations founded the UK Soy Manifesto, which commits its signatories, representing ~60% of soy use in the UK, to ensure all imported soy is deforestation and conversion-free by 2025 at the latest.

Pexels Ihsanaditya 1643371

Palm oil

Commitment: Becoming 100% verified deforestation and conversion free by the end of 2025 via sourcing 100% RSPO segregated. This includes all forms of deforestation (legal and illegal) and with a cut-off of 2020.
Palm oil plantations have been linked with deforestation and conversion, climate change and biodiversity loss. Certification is a key driver to making palm oil production more sustainable. Since 2018, 100% of our own brand products have used certified Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) sustainable palm oil.
We are a founding member of the Palm Oil Transparency Coalition (POTC) and an active member of the Retail Palm Oil Group (RPOG).

Pexels Japy 1563604

Timber

Commitment: 100% of assessed lines of paper/wood products to be FSC/PEFC or from a recycled source. 100% deforestation free by the end of 2025. This includes all forms of deforestation (legal and illegal) and with a cut-off of 2020.
Tesco actively supports the leading wood certification schemes. 100% of our own brand wood and paper products are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), or from recycled sources.

Green Soybean Field And Blue Sky With Clouds Optimised

Financial incentives for farmers

We invested in the trial phase of the Responsible Commodities Facility (RCF), a new system of financial incentives for farmers in Brazil who commit to deforestation and conversion-free soy cultivation. The original US$11m RCF, co-funded by Tesco and other UK retailers and which has since grown, is providing low interest loans to Brazilian farms producing verified deforestation and conversion free (vDCF) soy, with the capital raised through dollar-denominated green bonds. We’ve already seen strong demand for funding and the RCF is now in its fourth year, having secured further funding from several financial institutions.

 

Related pages

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Source:
1. https://climatepromise.undp.org/news-and-stories/forests-can-help-us-limit-climate-change-here-how
2. https://ourworldindata.org/world-lost-one-third-forests

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