As part of the UK’s wider Partnerships for Forests Programme, Efeca was Secretariat to the Global Resource Initiative (GRI), launched by the government in 2019.
The ambition of the GRI was to establish the UK as a leader on supply chain sustainability. It sought to ensure that the UK’s global commodity supply chain footprint on land, natural resources and ecosystems is sustainable, avoids deforestation and other environmental degradation, and supports jobs, livelihoods and investment in resilient and sustainable food systems.
Drawing on extensive experience of running successful multi-stakeholder platforms and dialogue processes, Efeca acted as secretariat, preparing and facilitating CEO-level GRI Taskforce meetings and supporting five working groups.
Efeca also provided evidence-based research, supported by key stakeholder interviews to inform cross-government and Task Force discussions of recommendations that will achieve the GRI’s ambitions.
GRI Taskforce Final Recommendations Report
GRI Taskforce Executive Summary
Following the Final Recommendations Report, Efeca wrote, on behalf of the GRI Task Force, a further report. The Global Resource Initiative (GRI) Finance Report – which complements the original recommendations and considers the role of the financial sector in reducing global deforestation – was published in July 2022. The 2022 Finance Report contains recommended actions for the UK Government to take to require financial institutions to assess, act and publicly disclose on the steps they are taking to avoid or mitigate the risks that their lending or investment activities are linked to deforestation or land conversion.
The government will continue to deliver on the taskforce’s initial set of recommendations, as set out in the government response, published in November 2020. This includes a range of domestic measures, as well as an active programme of work with international partners, for example a focus on halting and reversing forest loss as part of the UK’s COP26 presidency.