Trase 2015–2025:
Ten years of impact
Trase was founded in 2015 as a platform to revolutionise the transparency of global trade in agricultural commodities linked to deforestation. We have demonstrated that action to curb commodity-driven deforestation is both necessary and possible – enabling initiatives across governments, businesses and civil society.
Transparency breakthroughs
Key achievements of our research to date:
68%
68% of the tropical deforestation driven by key forest-risk commodities is linked to commodity trade.
5,280
subnational regions of production linked to individual trading companies and consumer markets.
16,038
companies trading in forest-risk commodities connected to regions of production.
Changing behaviour
Between 2021 and 2024, we have influenced and enabled:
>200
civil society campaigns, media investigations and enforcement agency initiatives.
>150
company initiatives to tackle deforestation linked to supply chains.
>200
actions by financial institutions on due diligence, portfolio screening, ESG reporting and analysis.
To fulfill our commitment to have a deforestation-free portfolio by 2025, we need quality data on companies' exposure to and management of deforestation risk. We have found that using a combination of data from Forest 500 and Trase allows us to identify companies at risk in our portfolio and to develop company-specific engagement strategies.
Vemund Olsen, Senior Sustainability Analyst, Storebrand Asset Management
Key milestones in Trase’s journey

Transformative Transparency platform was presented at COP21 in Paris as a prototype to Trase.
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Looking ahead
Trase's original purpose remains as relevant now as in 2015 – yet the context for our future work is starkly different.
Our new five-year strategy is focused on providing the transparency and intelligence necessary to overcome systemic barriers and deliver the action needed on global supply chain sustainability.
If you are interested in collaborating with us to accelerate positive impact, please contact Trase's co-directors Toby Gardner or Helen Bellfield.
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