Retail Soy Group
The Retail Soy Group (RSG) is an independent group of international retailers working collaboratively to find industry-wide solutions for soy in their supply chains. Facilitated by 3Keel, the group aims to create a new “business as usual” in the soy sector through shared efforts to establish consistent expectations for what success looks like for downstream sellers of livestock products that contain embedded soy.
In 2021, 3Keel supported the development of a sector roadmap: Achieving deforestation- and conversion-free soy value chains: Principles of successful strategies for downstream sellers of livestock products. To develop this landmark document, it brought together a range of civil society groups and technical implementation partners to agree on a set of principles for retailers to develop deforestation- and conversion-free supply chains, using the Accountability Framework as a blueprint. The AFi Backbone Team actively participated in this process and provided technical support to the RSG on integration of the Framework’s guidance into the roadmap.
The final set of roadmap principles, published in October 2021, reflect AFi’s definitions of key terms related to deforestation and conversion Also, it incorporates AFi’s elements of responsible supply chain commitments, such as comprehensive scope (covering both illegal and legal deforestation and conversion), cutoff dates, and implementation plans with time-bound milestones and targets. The Accountability Framework’s guidance on traceability, supplier engagement, and collaboration at the sectoral level are also incorporated. The RSG also made use of the Framework’s reporting metrics (as detailed in the Common Methodology) in the annual reporting requirements for its members.
By using the Accountability Framework as its basis, the RSG roadmap reflects international norms, best practice and broad consensus on addressing deforestation, conversion and human rights abuses in soy supply chains for livestock feed. When following this roadmap, RSG members can be confident that their actions will meet stakeholder expectations and drive meaningful progress.
“Alignment around core strategies and actions is fundamental to address the complex challenges of soy supply chains for livestock feed. We used the Accountability Framework as a blueprint to create the roadmap for addressing deforestation and conversion in soy supply chains, thereby ensuring that the principles would be aligned with best practice and broad consensus. The result is a summary reference point for what good looks like that guides the broad sectoral collaboration necessary to achieve deforestation- and conversion-free soy in animal feed supply chains.”
— Will Schreiber, Representative for the Retail Soy Group
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