Efeca can today announce that, to demonstrate collective support for the FACT dialogue, a broad group of 30+ palm oil and soya Roundtable members and partners have signed a UK Industry Statement of Support of the COP26 FACT Dialogue.
As president of COP26, the UK Government is convening a Government to Government (G2G) dialogue on Forest, Agriculture and Commodity Trade (the FACT Dialogue) to agree shared action to protect forests while promoting development and trade. Through this Dialogue the UK is aiming by November to gain agreement between producer and consumer governments to a global set of Principles and a set of shared Roadmaps for action, supported by a multistakeholder dialogue process.
Great progress has been made in a short space of time: 24 countries including Brazil and Indonesia have now signed a joint statement and agreed a set of Joint Principles to protect the world’s forests through responsible and sustainable trade
Members and wider participants of the UK Roundtables on Sustainable Soya and Sourcing Sustainable Palm Oil are already working to support these objectives, for example through collective participation of the Roundtables and other initiatives and by working to implement sustainable commodity polices within supply chains.
This statement represents the commitment and ambition of UK industry as it strives to develop sustainable commodity supply chains that protect the world’s forests. The signatories are calling on governments to take strong collaborative action, supporting the aim of growing markets for sustainably produced commodities, and pledging their commitment to working in support of the FACT Dialogue’s objectives.
The hard work now continues through the G2G process, supported by broader multistakeholder dialogue, to build tangible, concrete 5-year roadmaps for delivering the Joint Principles. The roadmaps will be announced at COP26 but critically will continue to be implemented beyond 2021. The UK Roundtables will continue to provide support to this process as it develops.