The 2050 Criteria: Guide to Responsible Investment in Agricultural, Forest, and Seafood Commodities

Providing distilled guidance based on leading industry practice, The 2050 Criteria is designed to serve as a field guide for investors to access mainstream agricultural, forest, and seafood commodities in a responsible manner.

The 2050 Criteria provides a framework to identify responsible practices in key soft commodity sectors around the globe, including:

  • Aquaculture
  • Beef
  • Cotton
  • Dairy
  • Palm Oil
  • Soy
  • Sugar
  • Timber, Pulp, & Paper
  • Wild-Caught Seafood
  • Bioenergy
  • Other Terrestrial Commodities

These commodity supply chains play key roles in meeting humanity’s growing demands while simultaneously generating some of the largest and most irreversible impacts on communities and ecosystems around the world, including biodiversity loss, watershed disruption, climate change, and social conflict. Financial institutions play a unique role in helping to establish the rules of the game and making daily operations possible. By deploying credible, mainstream criteria for responsibly indentifying and guiding investees, financial institutions can improve performance, manage risk, and help contribute to the economic and environmental sustainability of these crucial sectors.

For each soft commodity sector, The 2050 Criteria outlines:

  • Key features of the global market, including trade data and dynamics
  • Primary environmental and social risks
  • Key Performance Criteria for managing environmental and social risks
  • Leading third-party certifications
  • Major trends and opportunities
  • Links for additional tools and resources