Earthqualizer is helping a growing number of groups make the transition to a more sustainable future. Our work benefits local and national leaders in civil society, government, and corporates while ensuring social justice for communities and families. By working in an advisory capacity with NGOs, technical experts, and commodities companies, we are raising standards for industry practices and community livelihoods.
Our corporate transformation approach is based on:
Accurate, prompt, and actionable monitoring of supply chain compliance with NDPE policies
Accountable, rational, and clearly defined group association, which enables us to link a particular NDPE non-compliance to a parent company
Sustained engagement with company partners (as part of our helpdesk function), in parallel with their supplier engagement efforts
Ad hoc capacity building and in-depth consultations for our partners, such as strategic advice on the development of public grievance lists, liability assessment identification/calculation, and recovery plan development
Thematic, in-depth analysis on topics such as prominent deforestation cases, trends in fire outbreaks, etc. The findings derived from these analyses will be key references for supplier engagement and the transformation of corporate sustainability practices.
Allegations of association with non-compliant suppliers/business groups by NGOs and media outlets can cause considerable harm to a company's reputation.
Earthqualizer is familiar with the non-compliance cases and grievances registered on various online platforms. Building upon our extensive expertise and track record, as well as our information network in the NGO community, we are well placed to advise and guide stakeholders in addressing these issues.
Earthqualizer is capable of providing a review of the credibility of any grievance/complaint through internal analysis, and when necessary, through direct engagement with suppliers and field verification.
Earthqualizer’s desktop grievance verification scope is most robust with regard to supplying chain linkage, deforestation, peat development, and fire-related grievances. Nevertheless, Earthqualizer is also capable of verifying social and human rights grievances, including high-profile cases and those requiring field verification.
Industry transformation is possible only when decision-makers embrace the need to change and commit to action. Through our “traceability to decision-makers” research, we unravel the tangled world of private company ownership, helping buyers, investors, and their business partners to have a more positive impact.
We map out business relationships
We investigate and uncover corporate activities at the group level
We document evidence of non-compliance with NPDE sourcing policies
We provide downstream procurement managers with a robust toolkit for use in implementing their company sustainability goals
We achieve social and environmental justice by ensuring accountability and traceability
Plantation development that comes at the expense of forests, carbon-rich peatlands, and human rights can no longer be tolerated. Any downstream markets or third parties discovered to be in non-compliance with NDPE policy commitments should face sanctions and, if necessary, be suspended or even removed from supply chains.
To put these principles into practice, when a company launches its NDPE policy, it establishes a framework for industry standards and guidelines for remediation accordingly. Earthqualizer works collaboratively with its partners to ensure that a wide network of suppliers is united and is responsible for company commitments.
Case reports and thematic reports can be used by buyers directly to confront suppliers about practices and raise standards at the group level. Utilizing a variety of tools and approaches, Earthqualizer monitors compliance and drives change:
Opening investigations into non-compliant operations
Identifying supplier associations with larger groups of corporate growers and processors
Determining when environmental and human rights problems occur, and who is responsible
Conducting regular investigations and providing case reports
Utilizing a variety of tools and approaches
The direct engagement approach involves research to identify key decision-makers, intensive dialogue, and advocacy. The engagement process intends to make key decision-makers aware of the need to be more transparent, accountable and sustainable, while also guiding them to embrace those values.
The direct engagement strategy uses tried and tested methods, such as fact-based case research, due hearing of findings, invitations to dialogue, and influence and negotiation to ensure high-performance standards.
Earthqualizer supports the transformation of industry players into "Good Suppliers". This can be achieved through an evaluation process, designed to provide a deeper and more systematic focus on a company’s structure, including the attitudes, policies, and management capacities of each supplier. Through detailed analysis, we assess each of the following:
Leadership
Management structure
Transparency
Certification achievements
Involvement in landscape programs
The results of these evaluations can help downstream buyers to engage their suppliers more effectively. This, in turn, can raise sustainability benchmarks by fostering a culture of transparency, accountability, and justice.
Globally, many companies have made commitments to eradicating deforestation in their commodity supply chains. Such commitments, often known as “No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation” (NDPE) policies, have also been adopted in Southeast Asia.
However, the implementation of NDPE policies is still far from perfect (as assessed against companies' own roadmaps and/or commitments). In fact, this may soon force the development of a ‘second tier' market, with far less stringent sustainability requirements. In the palm oil industry, this ‘second tier' market is often known as a leakage market, where palm oil growers, refiners, and retailers actively work to avoid compliance with internationally accepted performance standards. Such a market comes at the expense of remaining natural forests, peatlands, and/or communities that have not granted consent for plantation development. The existence of such a market undermines the entire palm oil industry.
The monitoring of NDPE commitments should work proactively to understand the motives of key decision-makers in companies and the palm oil market, and to engage with them in order to facilitate the adoption of responsible (i.e., transparent, accountable, and sustainable) practices.
If you want to join us on our mission to build a greener, fairer future, please get in touch.
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