Our Ongoing Commitment to Forests

At ADM, our purpose is to unlock the power of nature to enrich the quality of life. Nature, and in particular, forests, play a key role in climate resilience, creating economic security for communities and protecting the world's biodiversity. Through this lens, we are acting with urgency to advance our own commitments to protect nature and achieve net zero.

Our Approach

ADM believes that action must be taken to prevent both deforestation and conversion, and we have a strong record of responsible sourcing and monitoring our supply chains. In 2022, ADM announced an accelerated commitment to achieve 100% deforestation-free supply chains by 2025 for direct and indirect sourcing of all commodities from every country in ADM’s supply chain. In 2021, we committed to eliminating conversion of native vegetation as soon as possible in our soy supply chains. We have achieved 100% traceability and 99% deforestation and conversion-free supply chains in Brazil, which includes the Cerrado. In addition to protecting forests, we must protect native vegetation such as grasslands, shrublands, peatlands and other carbon and biodiversity-rich ecosystems which is why ADM is also conducting an assessment of no-conversion policies globally with an aim to end native vegetation conversion in the shortest time possible.

Collaborating Globally

Global action, in collaboration with our industry, is key to achieving impact on the scale needed to address this challenge. ADM, along with other large agricultural trading and processing companies, is a signatory of the Agri-Commodity Sector Roadmap facilitated through the Tropical Forest Alliance (TFA), hosted by the World Economic Forum, in partnership with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). Last fall, at COP27, the group set out a tangible roadmap to deliver on a goal to accelerate action within global supply chains to stop commodity-linked deforestation in line with a 1.5°C pathway. This collective plan represents just one important step toward putting the global economy on a 1.5°C trajectory through nature positive action.

A History of Engagement

Our legacy of action on protecting forests goes back nearly two decades. Since 2006, we have been a signatory of the Amazon Soy Moratorium and we're a founding member of the Soy Working Group. ADM is a founding member of the Soft Commodities Forum, a global platform for leading soft commodities companies convened by WBCSD. We have committed to a common framework for reporting and monitoring progress on transparent and traceable supply chains for soy in Brazil's Cerrado region. We also have a partnership in the state of Maranhão, Brazil with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), a German development agency, to support sustainable agritrade chains. Additionally, we're a committed partner of The Farmers First Clusters initiative with the Soft Commodity Forum, working on a series of incentives to promote deforestation and conversion free agriculture in areas of high risk of deforestation in Brazil. Previously, we were active members of the GTC—Grupo de Trabalho do Cerrado, or Cerrado Working Group—a multi-stakeholder initiative aiming to reduce deforestation in the shortest timeframe possible while promoting socio-economic development and MATOPIBA Coalition, a group of stakeholders organized under the United Nation's Green Commodities program, who work together on a landscape approach in the states of Maranhao, Tocantins, Piaui and Bahia.

We recognize there is more work to do when it comes to protecting natural ecosystems in line with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework agreed to by the global community in December of 2022 as well as the Paris Climate Agreement – two global efforts that inspire us to continue to make more progress against these deeply complex issues. Now, more than ever, it is imperative for us to work together to build a more sustainable and resilient future for all.

For more information, see our Policy to Protect Forests, Biodiversity and Communities here.