Transforming Business Practices

Transforming Business Practices

Business as usual is no longer an option. To succeed in the long-term, companies must safeguard their reputations, ensure the resources they need are responsibly sourced and available for the future, and keep their employees healthy, happy and productive.

What We're Doing

The Rainforest Alliance has spent more than two decades helping businesses -- from forest managers and farmers to large retail stores and supermarkets -- to develop and implement sustainable alternatives to forest destruction and unsafe, unethical labor practices. We work with farmers and forest managers to ensure that they are complying with internationally respected environmental, social and economic standards. On Rainforest Alliance Certified™ farms and forestry operations, workers receive decent wages, good housing and healthcare, and their children have access to education.
We also train hotel owners, tour companies and other travel businesses to become more sustainable by employing local people and contributing to community development, for example.
And we help companies around the world to identify sustainable sources for the materials they need to produce their goods.

Our Impact

• We've certified over 169 million acres (68.7 million hectares) of forestland around the world according to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standards for responsible forest management.
• We've trained more than 2,000 tourism entrepreneurs to operate sustainably by installing solar panels, treating wastewater properly and composting organic residues. In Ecuador, we've worked with the indigenous Kichwa community of Añangu, whose Napo Wildlife Center earns community members a sustainable income while conserving 53,500 acres (over 21,400 hectares) of rainforest.
• Five percent of all Fortune 500 companies purchase Rainforest Alliance Certified™ products. Consumers spend billions of dollars per year on Rainforest Alliance Certified products, which are sold by retail giants such as Walmart, Costco, Safeway, Home Depot, Sam's Club, Staples and Lowe's.
• In a study of 129 FSC/Rainforest Alliance Certified forestry operations in 21 countries, 75 percent of the businesses improved communications with local communities and conflict resolution with stakeholders, 40 percent improved their compliance with the law and 64 percent improved worker safety and training.
• According to a 2008 study, a group of farmers in El Salvador working toward certification saw their productivity increase by an average of 76 percent over the previous year -- almost four times the amount reported by farmers in a control group -- while in a separate survey, Rainforest Alliance Certified cocoa farms in Côte d'Ivoire reported productivity increases of up to 20 percent.
• More than 15 percent of all bananas in international trade are grown on Rainforest Alliance Certified farms, and 100 percent of Chiquita-owned farms are Rainforest Alliance Certified. Kraft Coffee is integrating Rainforest Alliance Certified beans into its major brands in many countries. Mars, Inc., one of the world’s largest chocolate producers, has committed to sourcing its entire cocoa supply from certified sustainable sources by 2020. Unilever has pledged to purchase all of the tea in its Lipton tea bags -- 12 percent of the world’s tea -- from Rainforest Alliance Certified sources by 2015.
• A 2009 study of 14 hotels enrolled in our tourism program found that 71 percent reduced water consumption and solid waste and 93 percent decreased energy use, while the amount of money they spent on water and energy decreased by 31 percent and 64 percent, respectively.

Learn About How We Are Also...

Keeping forests standing

Curbing climate change

Protecting wildlife

Alleviating poverty