ABOUT THE ACCOUNTABILITY FRAMEWORK INITIATIVE
The Accountability Framework initiative (AFi) aims to create a 'new normal' of ethical supply chains in agriculture and forestry.
Currently, agriculture and forestry are major contributors to deforestation, biodiversity loss, climate change, and human rights violations. Yet they also support the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people. When managed responsibly, these sectors can furnish the raw materials that the world needs while protecting ecosystems and reducing poverty.
The AFi helps companies and other stakeholders achieve this critical transformation. It does so by offering the Accountability Framework as a practical roadmap for ethical supply chains. The AFi’s diverse Coalition supports implementation of these best practices for commodity production and trade worldwide.
A shared roadmap for ethical commodity production and trade
In 2019, the AFi launched the Accountability Framework: a practical, consensus-based guide for achieving and monitoring ethical supply chains. The Framework is grounded in accepted international norms, such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. It integrates best practices and expectations of commodity buyers, investors, and civil society into a single resource for effective action to address the deforestation, conversion, and human rights impacts of supply chains.
A Coalition working to make ethical supply chains the new normal
The AFi Coalition consists of more than 25 environmental and human rights NGOs from around the world. Working together, the Coalition promotes and supports application of the Accountability Framework to drive progress at a sector-wide level. This includes engaging with companies that produce, trade, and finance agricultural and forestry commodities to apply the Framework within their operations and supply chains.
It also involves collaborating with civil society, government, industry associations, investors, and other stakeholders to create greater alignment and stronger policies and standards for ethical supply chains. Aligned action, guided by the Accountability Framework, supports faster progress and stronger accountability to end commodity-driven deforestation, conversion, and human rights abuses.
