The financial costs to UK businesses to carry out due diligence for land conversion: legal versus gross conversion

The UK Government is currently proposing a mandatory due diligence obligation on companies to monitor their agricultural commodity supply chains for deforestation risks, based on relevant producer country laws to protect forests and other natural ecosystems. Although such a move is welcome, the proposal falls short to address the UK's overall footprint associated with its commodity supply chains, especially in regions where the deforestation and/or land conversion risk is high and regulatory frameworks or enforcement mechanisms may be inadequate or under threat. WWF-UK is concerned that a legality-based mechanism will not deliver impact at the pace and scale needed and may even have deleterious effects in encouraging environmental deregulation in some producer countries.

WWF-UK is advocating for a more robust due diligence obligation that goes beyond legality, as well as for a range of complementary measures as outlined in the Global Resources Initiative taskforce recommendation to halt all legal and illegal conversion (including deforestation) in UK supply chains and reduce the footprint of the UK's commodity consumption and associated impacts overseas.

If the UK due diligence obligation indeed turns out to be based on existing legal frameworks in producer countries only, it is critical that companies in scope clearly perceive the added benefits of establishing due diligence systems that go beyond legality to address all deforestation and conversion of other natural ecosystems in their agricultural supply chains - in line with their own voluntary commitments.

PROPOSALS SUBMISSION AND DEADLINE

Proposals should include:

The proposal should be no longer than 6 pages plus CVs and other information on the organisation's policies.

Closing date to submit proposals: Friday 23rd July 2021

Project kick-off: Week commencing on Monday 26th July 2021

Final delivery: Friday 8th October 2021

Budget: Maximum GBP 30,000 (including VAT)

Submit proposals to: Mollie Gupta (mgupta@wwf.org.uk), Jessica Fonseca Da Silva (JFonsecaDaSilva@wwf.org.uk), Sabrina Goncalves Krebsbach (SGoncalvesKrebsbach@wwf.org.uk) and WWF-UK Procurement Team (procurement@wwf.org.uk).