What is the Deforestation Risk Metric?
Deforestation risk is a measure of the probable risk of deforestation occurring due to growing or raising ingredients. The Deforestation metric has three components:
The hectares of tree cover lost out of the total tree cover in the region where the ingredient is grown or raised.
The ingredient yield in the region it is grown.
The ingredient concentration of the raw material that goes into the ingredient.
How does deforestation relate to agriculture, product development, and the food system?
Deforestation is a major contributor to climate change as it demolishes entire ecosystems and eliminates or contaminates resources that local communities rely upon.
Forests are important carbon sinks, and clearing forests for agricultural purposes releases carbon into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.
Protecting forest habitats is also key to protecting our planet’s remaining biodiversity, as 80% of terrestrial species live in forests. The failure to protect critical wildlife areas from deforestation means the loss of biodiversity and extinction of endangered species. With fewer species, the resilience of the entire food chain suffers.
Agricultural production, particularly animal agriculture, is the number one driver of the clearing and burning of forests.
What are the biggest contributors to high deforestation impact?
A major contributor to deforestation risk is the region in which an ingredient is grown or raised. Ingredients that are grown or raised in regions with the greatest loss of natural forest over the past five years, compared to the baseline measurement taken in 2000, will have high deforestation risk.
For example, raising conventional livestock in a region that has experienced rapid deforestation in recent years (like the Amazon rainforest) will have a high deforestation risk. Raising conventional livestock on land that has been used for agricultural purposes for historically longer periods of time will have minimal or no deforestation risk.
How do we measure deforestation impact?
Deforestation Risk is measured by considering three factors:
Tree cover loss - The hectares of tree cover lost out of the total tree cover in the region where the ingredient is grown or raised. HowGood measures the five-year average tree coverage loss in a region and compares it to the baseline tree coverage extent for that region, measured in the year 2000. Regions that do not naturally contain forests (ie. tundra or desert environments) will by default receive the maximum score.
Tree coverage is defined as more than 30% tree canopy. Tree gain is not considered in our metric as primary forest can be lost and replaced with tree plantations.
Deforestation metric = 5 year avg tree loss (ha) / tree coverage (ha)
Ingredient Yield - The quantity grown of an ingredient, measured in tons per hectare.
Ingredient concentration - HowGood accounts for the total amount of raw material required to produce an ingredient.
ExampleIt takes approximately 8 oranges to produce 1kg of orange juice, hence the raw material to ingredient ratio is not 1:1. We must take into account the hectares of tree cover lost from growing all 8 oranges in order to accurately represent the deforestation risk of 1kg of orange juice. Read more about ingredient concentration here.
Key Data Sources
Global Forest Watch, 2022. World Resources Institute, Washington, D.C.
How does my ingredient portfolio compare to others in the industry when it comes to deforestation?
To see how your Deforestation Metric stacks up against the industry average, you can benchmark your portfolio score and metric averages here.
What is the relationship to the HowGood Impact Score?
The Deforestation metric is a standalone metric that does not contribute to the HowGood Impact Score. For more information on the eight core metrics that comprise the HowGood Impact Score, click here.
How do I improve impact as a product developer?
Sourcing location - Avoid sourcing ingredients that have been grown or raised in regions that have experienced deforestation in recent years. Try switching to a supplier from a different country with lower deforestation risk.
Ingredient substitution - Substitute an ingredient with high deforestation risk with an ingredient that has lower deforestation risk.
The Deforestation metric is available to Latis customers by contract - contact your Customer Success Manager to find out more.