On 10 February, 180 representatives of the corporate and financial sectors gathered in the City of London to hear at first-hand the results of the first Annual Review of the Forest Footprint Disclosure Project.  The Review analyses questionnaires answered by 35 international companies that innovated by disclosing information that helps assess how their activities directly or indirectly contributed to deforestation.

The launch also included presentations by Brazilian experts on the impact of the meat and leather industries on the Amazon forest, as well as initiatives already underway to encourage sustainable cattle ranching in forest areas.

 The Director of the McKinsey & Co. Climate Change Special Initiative, Jeremy Oppenheim, laid out a compelling framework within which to understand the global trade in Forest Risk Commodities such as palm oil, soy, timber, beef, leather and biofuels. He also agreed with the opening remarks of Forest Footprint Chair Andrew Mitchell that participants shouldn't lose sight of the fact that a generation of business leaders challenged by the threat of climate change should be preparing for nothing short of a new economic model. Download Jeremy's presentation in PDF.



In the afternoon, 50 participants from the corporate, financial and public sectors took part in a workshop on how best to address the issues raised in the Annual Review and work towards minimising the forest footprint of their organisations.

> Download the inaugural Forest Footprint Disclosure Annual Review (over 6 MB).

> View the associated media release 'International Brands Lead the Way in Disclosing their Global Forest Footprint'