Transforming business and value chains for good – What roles does technology play?

A majority of the impact of human activity on nature and communities is invisible to us. It hides behind the products we use every day to eat, move or communicate. They happen at the far reaches of commodity supply chains that extract and transform raw material from all over the world. From the rare metals in our phones, to the palm oil present in half of the product on supermarket shelves our daily decision has far-reaching yet often invisible consequences. Can we make this impact tangible to all? Can we become conscious organisations and individuals? Rather than simply being consumers, can we become a force to restore ecosystems and human dignity? Technology increasingly give us the tool to accelerate the damage as well as to do something about it. Through the examples of the work of the Forest Trust (TFT) in commodity supply chains, this talk will explore some of the most innovative technologies used to create a more transparent world and empower decision-makers to do the right thing. It will also outlines some of the limits of technology to bring about change.