Timberland’s announcement comes on the heels of the Greenpeace
report titled, “Slaughtering the Amazon,” which documents a
three-year investigation that traced leather, beef and other cattle
products from ranches involved in deforestation at the heart of the
Amazon Rainforest, as well as the invasion of indigenous lands and
slavery, back to the supply chains of top brands.
Working with Greenpeace, Timberland released a policy that
requires leather suppliers, such as Bertin, to commit to a
moratorium on newly deforested areas in the Amazon. Given the
cattle industry is responsible for Brazil’s top source of carbon
dioxide emissions and the largest driver of deforestation in the
world, a moratorium on cattle expansion is a critical component of
Brazil’s Zero Deforestation policy if it aims to reduce forest
related greenhouse gas emissions.
“Timberland has raised the bar for environmentally and socially
responsible leather sourcing policies in the Amazon. They have
taken an important step by not only committing to avoid leather
from cattle raised in newly deforested areas, but by working with
existing suppliers like Bertin, to move the Brazilian cattle sector
toward supporting a moratorium on any new cattle expansion into the
Amazon Rainforest,” said Lindsey Allen, a forest campaigner with
Greenpeace.
Other key areas that demonstrate Timberland’s leadership in
these areas of corporate sustainability include:
* The company’s willingness to not just fix its own supply chain
but work to improve practices in the wider industry;
* The company was already working to find areas where it could
improve these policies internally;
* The company has a long history of first working with suppliers
to make lasting positive change and that has been one of the most
effective parts of their model.
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Other contacts: Contacts: Michael Crocker, Media Director, [email protected], 202-215-8989
Lindsey Allen, Forest Campaigner, [email protected], 415-710-5601
