Scaling sustainable sourcing through traceability at commodity level

Background

Global commodity supply chains remain among the opaquest and environmentally impactful segments of the food system. To tackle this challenge, a sustainability advisory firm and Mondra joined forces to deliver one of the largest supply chain traceability platforms for agricultural commodities in the world.

The project focused on enabling annual data collection, validation, and analysis across thousands of organizations handling palm oil, soy, cocoa, coffee, and other forest-risk commodities that supports businesses in meeting their zero-deforestation, ESG, and due diligence goals.

Scope of the Project

• Engage 3,500+ supply chain actors across key food and commodity sectors

• Cover priority commodities: Palm oil, Soy, Cocoa, and Coffee with capacity to extend to timber, seafood, and others

• Collect and validate supplier data across:

  • Sourcing origins and volumes

  • Sustainability policies and certifications

  • Deforestation exposure and responsible sourcing declarations

• Enable cross-industry collaboration with 20+ participating retailers and manufacturers

• Create an anonymized dataset and annual reporting outputs for benchmarking and trend analysis

Objectives

The initiative was designed to:

• Enhance supply chain transparency and traceability across globally traded forest-risk commodities

• Identify deforestation and sustainability risks at supplier and region level

• Support corporate sourcing commitments and compliance disclosures

• Simplify supplier reporting across multiple stakeholders using a shared infrastructure

• Deliver deep data-driven insights and visualization tools to support action and decision-making

Approach & Methodology

This project blended the policy and sustainability expertise of the advisory team with the digital infrastructure and analytics design of Mondra:

• Sustainability Advisory Firm - Led survey design, methodology development, data validation, stakeholder engagement

• Mondra - Built and hosted the secure online platform, managed all onboarding, processing, and reporting

Key platform features included:

• Self-service onboarding and multi-organization sign-up workflows

• Standardized data collection templates aligned to best practice frameworks

• Real-time dashboards for tracking completion rates, commodity coverage, and regional risk

• Data storage and processing compliant with EU data protection and audit requirements

Key Outcomes

• Established one of the largest traceability datasets for forest-risk commodities globally

• Delivered annual trend reports tracking progress against corporate commitments

• Enabled businesses to align with EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) and CSRD requirements

• Flagged deforestation hotspots and policy gaps, guiding procurement strategies

• Significantly reduced supplier reporting burden by replacing fragmented audit requests with a shared industry mechanism

Strategic Insights

• Transparency through collaboration: 20+ businesses shared a single reporting workflow, reducing duplication and improving data consistency across the sector.

• Risk insights fuel action: The platform enabled early identification of high-risk sourcing zones, helping businesses pre-empt reputational or compliance issues.

• Policy-ready reporting: Data outputs were structured to feed into sustainability disclosures, investor reporting, and mandatory due diligence filings.

• Digital automation increases response rates: The scalable, multilingual platform ensured higher supplier participation than manual or email-based surveys.

 Industry Impact

The project wasn’t just a data collection exercise, it shaped broader transformation in commodity governance:

• Contributed insights to WWF’s Risky Business report series, supporting policy advocacy on imported deforestation.

• Supported industry alignment through groups like the Retail Soy Group and Sustainable Seafood Coalition.

• Created replicable processes now being explored for new sectors, such as timber, seafood, and paper packaging.

Looking Ahead

The platform provides a strong foundation for future expansion:

• Expansion to new commodities - Add seafood, timber, rubber, and paper to existing workflows

• Integration with procurement platforms - Link traceability data to retailer and brand sourcing decisions

• Real-time reporting for stakeholders - Enable suppliers and buyers to access live dashboards and risk indicators

• Cross-mapping with geospatial models - Combine with land-use, biodiversity, and climate overlays for deeper insight

• Support for independent verification - Add third-party validation to enable ESG-grade audit readiness

Conclusion

This partnership demonstrates the power of data, design, and collaboration to tackle supply chain opacity at scale. By bringing together strategic advisory expertise and digital infrastructure, the project created a shared system of truth, enabling thousands of suppliers and brands to track, report, and act on their sourcing impacts.

As forest-risk regulation tightens, this model offers a blueprint for collective compliance and a step change in how the food system governs its global footprint.