Why corporate sustainability initiatives fail to reduce deforestation and what to do about it

TY - JOUR

T1 - Why corporate sustainability initiatives fail to reduce deforestation and what to do about it

AU - Panwar, Rajat

AU - Pinkse, Jonatan

AU - Cashore, Benjamin

AU - Husted, Bryan W.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023 ERP Environment and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

PY - 2023/12

Y1 - 2023/12

N2 - Deforestation is a complex environmental problem that has eluded a series of public policies and private-sector interventions. The need to develop effective solutions to this problem is urgent because unabated deforestation exacerbates climate change, biodiversity loss, human rights violations, displacement of Indigenous communities, and breakouts of zoonotic diseases. This paper focuses on corporate-led efforts to stop deforestation and identifies four reasons behind their failure: global trade and supply-chain obscurity, power dynamics in supply chains, neglected consumption in emerging economies, and diluted goal setting. We call upon corporate sustainability scholars, specifically in entrepreneurship, marketing, strategy, and supply-chain management domains, to dedicate efforts to develop novel corporate sustainability initiatives that can address the complex, rampant, and stubborn challenge of deforestation. We propose three broad areas of research to advance scholarship on the role of corporate sustainability in stopping deforestation: zero-deforestation supply chains, zero-deforestation consumption, and nature-positive business models.

AB - Deforestation is a complex environmental problem that has eluded a series of public policies and private-sector interventions. The need to develop effective solutions to this problem is urgent because unabated deforestation exacerbates climate change, biodiversity loss, human rights violations, displacement of Indigenous communities, and breakouts of zoonotic diseases. This paper focuses on corporate-led efforts to stop deforestation and identifies four reasons behind their failure: global trade and supply-chain obscurity, power dynamics in supply chains, neglected consumption in emerging economies, and diluted goal setting. We call upon corporate sustainability scholars, specifically in entrepreneurship, marketing, strategy, and supply-chain management domains, to dedicate efforts to develop novel corporate sustainability initiatives that can address the complex, rampant, and stubborn challenge of deforestation. We propose three broad areas of research to advance scholarship on the role of corporate sustainability in stopping deforestation: zero-deforestation supply chains, zero-deforestation consumption, and nature-positive business models.

KW - business and deforestation

KW - deforestation risk commodities

KW - EU deforestation-free regulation

KW - market-driven deforestation

KW - nature-positive business models

KW - zero-deforestation supply chains

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85152791503&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1002/bse.3421

DO - 10.1002/bse.3421

M3 - Editorial

AN - SCOPUS:85152791503

SN - 0964-4733

VL - 32

SP - 5121

EP - 5127

JO - Business Strategy and The Environment

JF - Business Strategy and The Environment

IS - 8

ER -