China Meat Association (CMA)
Using the Accountability Framework for developing meat industry Specifications
The China Meat Association (CMA) is the overarching body for the Chinese meat industry, representing major state-owned and privately-owned meat companies. In 2021, the CMA collaborated with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to issue CMA’s Specifications for Meat Industry Green Trade, designed to promote the sustainable development of China’s meat industry. Considering CMA’s reach, the Specifications constitute an important milestone towards responsible meat and animal feed supply chains in China.
To help ensure that the Specifications effectively addressed supply chain sustainability issues, the CMA and WWF developed them using the Accountability Framework as a foundation. As a result, the Specifications are aligned with several of the global good practices set out in the Framework. For example, the requirement for deforestation- and conversion-free supply chains applies to the production, processing, and trade of meat and meat products. It also extends to all products and related raw materials in the supply chain, including feed, livestock, and poultry breeding. The Specifications also include Framework-aligned definitions, such as of deforestation, and other key concepts, including cutoff dates and target dates. Additionally, they address key aspects of implementation, such as supply chain management, monitoring, mechanisms to manage non-compliance, and reporting.
Since publishing the Specifications, the CMA and WWF have focused on supporting their use by CMA members. As of August 2023, 15 Chinese companies have committed to following them. To increase adoption and support implementation, WWF also developed implementation toolkits tailored for the Chinese meat industry that were adapted from the AFi’s Self-Assessment Tool. These resources enable CMA staff to support members wishing to pilot and implement the Specifications in their own work.
“The Framework offers a clear and useful reference for developing industry standards that saved the CMA time, provided a clear structure for sector-wide discussions on implementation guidance, brought greater credibility to CMA members’ work, and enabled us to build on existing material rather than reinvent the wheel.”
Xin Yu, Priority Project Coordinator, Sustainable Food Consumption and Supply Chain, WWF-China
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