Purpose & Summary

This Operational Guidance elaborates on the Accountability Framework’s Core Principles 1.1, 1.2, and 9 to describe how companies should address environmental restoration and compensation related to their no-deforestation and no-conversion commitments.

A central tenet of the Accountability Framework is that commodity production, sourcing, and financing must not cause or contribute to deforestation or conversion. Therefore, this Operational Guidance is not intended to be used to select or design restoration or compensation activities that are carried out to justify or offset new deforestation or conversation. Rather, it addresses scenarios in which restoration or compensation is required to remedy past deforestation or conversion, or in which companies choose to conduct or support restoration to help deliver positive benefits.

In the case of environmental harms that also result in adverse impacts to human rights, requirements for remedy of human rights impacts must also be followed, as described in the Operational Guidance on Remediation and Access to Remedy.