ROTTERDAM, NETHERLANDS — Louis Dreyfus Co. (LDC) is making a commitment to eliminate deforestation and conversion of native vegetation of high conservation value for agricultural purposes from all its supply chains by the end of 2025.

This commitment builds on the company’s global approach to shaping fair and sustainable food and agriculture value chains.

“Ensuring sustainable agriculture and food production are among the world’s most pressing global challenges, and our commitment to zero deforestation and conversion of native vegetation is essential in addressing these challenges,” said Michael Gelchie, chief executive officer of LDC. “To achieve our target, we believe in a collaborative approach that takes into account the needs and concerns of all supply chain participants, particularly farmers, on whose production activities we all depend for global food security, and whose methods are key to the conservation of natural resources and habitats.”  

In recent years, LDC created a dedicated Carbon Solutions Platform and developed product-specific sustainability codes and policies stipulating its commitment to conserve forests and native vegetation for commodities considered to be higher risk in terms of deforestation. These commodities include coffee, palm and soy.

“Eliminating deforestation and native vegetation conversation associated with agriculture is among the most significant contributions we can make to the world's 1.5°C Paris Agreement target to limit global warming,” Gelchie said. “The commitment announced today is therefore a key step in LDC’s efforts to contribute to a net-zero economy through a decarbonization roadmap that includes action to drive down emissions within our own operations as well as in our value chains — in this case upstream, at the farm level.”

Next steps toward implementation will involve risk assessments across supply chains, as a basis to prioritize actions with a focus on supply chains and regions with higher deforestation and conversion risks, with regular reporting on progress.

“This commitment is aligned with LDC’s track record of transparency and public reporting on supply chain risks and efforts to mitigate these, which we feel will be complemented by a commitment to complete avoidance of deforestation and native vegetation conversion with a clear timeline,” said Guy Hogge, global head of sustainability at LDC. “Joined in our conviction by a growing body of policymakers, consumer goods companies, the financial community, and other stakeholders who are increasingly making similar commitments, we look forward to working in concert with supply chain partners to achieve our target through product traceability, land use monitoring and third-party verification, and above all continual engagement with and support to suppliers and farmers in our network.”