Transformative Transparency: Harnessing the power of data for supply chain sustainability

The briefing presents Transformative Transparency, a data-driven platform developed by the Stockholm Environment Institute and the Global Canopy Programme. It aims to increase transparency in the trade of agricultural commodities—specifically those linked to deforestation—by linking production landscapes to consumer countries using customs data, bills of lading, and subnational production data. The platform is designed to help investors, retailers, governments, and consumers identify risk factors and monitor sustainability commitments, such as 'zero deforestation' pledges, by providing a more comprehensive and cost-efficient alternative to footprint analyses and bespoke traceability systems.

• Agricultural expansion has been a primary driver of tropical deforestation over the last ten years, contributing to climate change and threatening local livelihoods.
• Existing supply chain visibility is limited, leaving traders, consumer-facing companies, investors, and governments largely unaware of the specific origins of commodities and their associated environmental and social risks.
• The Transformative Transparency platform utilizes untapped production, trade, and customs data to map the flow of commodities from production landscapes to consumers, identifying specific ports, producers, traders, and transporters.
• The platform distinguishes itself from other methods by being more comprehensive than country-level footprint analyses and more cost-efficient and scalable than bespoke traceability systems.
• The beta version of the platform currently provides interactive supply chain maps for all coffee exports from Colombia and a subset of soy exports from Brazil.
• The developers aim to expand the platform to cover 20–25 producer countries, which would represent approximately 70% of global exports for key commodities linked to deforestation, including soy, beef, palm oil, sugar, cocoa, pulp and paper, timber, and coffee.
• The platform's mapping methodology relies on subnational production data, port-level origin data, customs declarations, bills of lading, and official global trade data from sources like the UN Food and Agricultural Organization.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2015). Transformative Transparency: Harnessing the power of data for supply chain sustainability. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/NEW/SEi-GCP-DB-TransformativeTransparency.pdf

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Transformative Transparency: Harnessing the power of data for supply chain sustainability. 2015. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/NEW/SEi-GCP-DB-TransformativeTransparency.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Transformative Transparency: Harnessing the power of data for supply chain sustainability |date=2015 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/NEW/SEi-GCP-DB-TransformativeTransparency.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2015transformative, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Transformative Transparency: Harnessing the power of data for supply chain sustainability}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2015}, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/NEW/SEi-GCP-DB-TransformativeTransparency.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }