In a recent webinar, experts from McDonald’s, COFCO International, and AFi discussed what real progress on responsible sourcing looks like, the challenges ahead, and how to keep momentum beyond 2025.
2025: A milestone year for accountability
"2025 has been widely adopted as the deadline for deforestation- and conversion-free supply chains," said Jeff Milder, director of the Accountability Framework initiative. "It’s also the year companies must comply with the EU Deforestation Regulation, so expectations are high."
The AFi recently published a synopsis of its guidance for companies navigating the final stretch, with four key messages:
Prioritise urgent actionin 2025: Fulfil commitments by ensuring product -level compliance while addressing risk and impact at the level of suppliers and sourcing areas.
Remain transparent: Retain existing targets, communicate any gaps along with timelines for closing them.
Signal future plans: Complement company-wide no-deforestation policies with interim milestones and corresponding action plans that define the pathway towards full achievement.
Standardise disclosure: Use aligned metrics to report on deforestation-free sourcing and traceability.
How companies are turning commitments into progress
Róisín Mortimer, global sustainability and stakeholder engagement manager at COFCO International, explained that clear internal alignment has been crucial. She noted that the agri-sector roadmap signed by trading companies at COP26, which included a CEO-level commitment, played a pivotal role in shaping COFCO’s climate journey. This high-level buy-in enabled the company to set Science-Based Targets (SBTi) and advance its deforestation-free commitments, particularly for soy sourced from Brazil. “We already achieved 99% deforestation- and conversion-free soy sourcing from Brazil in 2023,” she shared.
Mortimer explained how COFCO’s sustainability targets are integral to its business strategy. For example:
Secured a sustainability-linked loan with KPIs tied to emissions reductions from soy and corn.
Uses short-term milestones to communicate progress and gaps with internal and external stakeholders.
Hillary Fenrich, global manager of nature and water strategy at McDonald’s, outlined the company’s long history of forest commitments, dating back to 1989. The 2023 update to its forest policy now includes ecosystem conversion, thanks in part to guidance from the AFi and partners.
"One of our biggest challenges is acting five steps removed from the producer," said Fenrich. "McDonald’s therefore prioritises collaboration, strong procurement policies, and working with suppliers to scale sustainable practices.”
Fenrich pointed to a few practical ways McDonald’s is doing this:
Aligning strategy and reporting with the Accountability Framework to maintain consistency and credibility.
Expanding the Flagship Farmers programme to showcase scalable, sustainable farming practices.
Fenrich argued that business resiliency is directly tied to ecosystem resiliency, and that engaging franchisees, suppliers, and farmers is essential for long-term success.
What’s working, and what’s still hard?
Both McDonald’s and COFCO pointed to similar challenges:
Incentivising producers: Especially when deforestation is still legally permitted in some jurisdictions. Both stressed the importance of collaborative models that offer meaningful rewards – such as green finance, Farmer First Clusters, and sustainable procurement frameworks – to support farmers through the transition.
Traceability barriers: Differences between sourcing contexts can impact data availability and compliance. Mortimer noted regional differences, such as Brazil’s publicly available land data vs. Argentina’s lack of, and called for pragmatic, context-sensitive approaches. Milder added that while perfect traceability remains difficult in some contexts, companies can still pursue credible no-deforestation strategies by integrating supplier engagement, area-level approaches, and milestones into their action plans.
Aligning frameworks with real-world complexity
The panellists discussed the importance of aligning with credible frameworks and coalitions to avoid fragmentation and duplication. The Consumer Goods Forum Forest Positive Coalition, Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, and the AFi itself all play a key role in achieving harmonised action. Industry-wide coordination is especially vital in regions with basic logistical and infrastructure challenges.
Milder closed by emphasising the need to bridge top-down targets with ground-level realities: "We can connect strong global commitments to local realities by recognising multiple pathways to achieve and demonstrate progress that reflect different sourcing contexts and constraints."
He stressed the AFi’s focus on promoting engagement and improvement throughout the supply chains to help build capacity and accountability at the source, rather than immediate exclusion of suppliers with non-compliance.
Key takeaways:
Success in 2025 requires urgent efforts to achieve product level compliance along with measures for durable improvement at the supplier and sourcing area levels.
Annual milestones are critical for driving progress in a continuous and adaptable way.
Traceability challenges must be met with context-aware solutions.
Incentives for producers are essential to closing the implementation gap.
Standardised reporting methodologies grounded in the Accountability Framework, help bring consistency and credibility in communicating about progress.
Progress with purpose
The unanimous message is that 2025 is not just a deadline; it’s a test of credibility. Companies that stay transparent, act collaboratively, and prioritise incremental progress will be better positioned to meet expectations and adapt to regulatory and market shifts.
Want to go deeper into AFi's guidance? Click here to access the latest resources on target-setting, disclosure, and short-term milestones.
New York City
24th - 25th June 2025