Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests: Eliminating Deforestation from the Production of Agricultural Commodities – Goal 2 Assessment Report

The 2016 Goal 2 Assessment Report evaluates progress toward eliminating deforestation from agricultural commodity supply chains, specifically palm oil, soy, cattle, and wood products. While corporate pledges are increasing, the report finds a significant gap between high-level commitments and operational implementation, particularly in the cattle and soy sectors. It emphasizes that while downstream companies in Europe and North America lead in pledging, the most critical impact comes from upstream producers in deforestation hotspots like Brazil and Indonesia. The report concludes that global data linking these corporate efforts to actual reductions in deforestation is currently unavailable.

• Corporate commitments to eliminate deforestation from agricultural supply chains are increasing, with 415 companies making 701 commitments as of 2016. However, these pledges are unevenly distributed across commodities: 59% address palm oil and 53% address wood products, while only 21% address soy and 12% address cattle.
• There is a stark divide in where commitments originate; nearly 90% of companies making these pledges are headquartered in Europe, North America, or Australia, while upstream producers and companies in Latin America, Africa, and Asia have been slower to act.
• Implementation of commitments lags behind the announcement of pledges. Less than half of assessed companies have time-bound actionable plans, and only 45% report on compliance with their deforestation policies.
• Traceability to the production level remains a major barrier. While many companies have traceability systems, only a small percentage can trace commodities back to the farm or plantation, with soy and palm oil facing the most significant hurdles.
• Cattle production is identified as the single largest driver of deforestation, yet it has the lowest rate of corporate commitments due to the commodity's mobility, high levels of informality, and the lack of a global industry certification standard.
• Financial institutions are lagging behind consumer goods companies in adopting deforestation policies. Only one-third of 150 assessed financial institutions have deforestation-related commitments, and very few offer financial instruments to support sustainable supply chain implementation.
• Weak forest governance and a lack of public-sector support are primary barriers to private-sector success. Only 20% of the 25 assessed countries producing forest-risk commodities have made zero-net or commodity-specific zero deforestation commitments.
• Companies operating in or sourcing from deforestation hotspots—specifically Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Paraguay—are 10-20% more advanced in operationalizing their commitments than those with less exposure to these regions.
• It is currently impossible to determine if corporate supply-chain efforts are resulting in measurable reductions in global deforestation because no comprehensive global data sets exist that link these efforts to actual forest loss.

APA

Streck, C., Haupt, F., Roe, S., Behm, K., Kroeger, A., & Schulte, I. (2016). Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests: Eliminating Deforestation from the Production of Agricultural Commodities – Goal 2 Assessment Report. Forest Declaration Assessment. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2016NYDFReport.pdf

Chicago

Streck, Charlotte, Franziska Haupt, Stephanie Roe, Katharina Behm, Alan Kroeger, and Ingrid Schulte. Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests: Eliminating Deforestation from the Production of Agricultural Commodities – Goal 2 Assessment Report. Forest Declaration Assessment, 2016. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2016NYDFReport.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Streck |first1=Charlotte |last2=Haupt |first2=Franziska |last3=Roe |first3=Stephanie |last4=Behm |first4=Katharina |last5=Kroeger |first5=Alan |last6=Schulte |first6=Ingrid |title=Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests: Eliminating Deforestation from the Production of Agricultural Commodities – Goal 2 Assessment Report |publisher=Forest Declaration Assessment |date=November 2016 |url=https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2016NYDFReport.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{streck2016progress, author = {Streck, Charlotte and Haupt, Franziska and Roe, Stephanie and Behm, Katharina and Kroeger, Alan and Schulte, Ingrid}, title = {{Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests: Eliminating Deforestation from the Production of Agricultural Commodities – Goal 2 Assessment Report}}, institution = {Forest Declaration Assessment}, year = {2016}, month = nov, url = {https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2016NYDFReport.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }