The high-profile clearance of the Amazon rainforest late last year and the Australian bushfires this year made headlines around the world, putting deforestation at the top of the agenda. Together with NGOs, investors are pushing for greater transparency and action on this issue from businesses through investor-led initiatives such as CDP. This document looks into the annual CDP reporting process and what is required of a company to be considered a leader in the CDP Forests questionnaire.

Over the course of September 2019 to March 2020, Australia experienced bushfires that burned an unprecedented 12 million hectares of land, killed 33 people and one billion animals. The fires were the biggest in Australia’s history and will have unparalleled impacts that we are only just beginning to understand. The Australian Forest Products Association, an industry body, is urging the Australian government to salvage log in order to mitigate the severe impacts of the fire, however there is significant evidence showing the catastrophic impacts salvage logging can have. The decision on how to proceed is ongoing. Despite the size and disastrous nature of the bushfires, it is unlikely that they will have significant ramifications on the global pulp and paper industry as Australia exports only account for 3%.