How buyers and investors can engage rubber supply chains more effectively

Tyres, gloves, yoga mats and even condoms… natural rubber is everywhere. Yet for many buyers and financial institutions, visibility into rubber supply chains remains limited and assessing ESG risks and opportunities is hard. However, there is now a wealth of ESG data on natural rubber supply chain companies emerging from the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR), enhancing transparency and enriching risk assessments.

In 2021, Oliver Cupit, Wildground’s Founder & Director, joined the GPSNR as a civil society member. At this point the platform was still young, having been established in 2018/19. The membership requirements were broad and focussed mostly on alignment of corporate policy commitments with a GPSNR Policy Framework. Over the next few years, focus was placed on companies reporting ESG data transparently through the GPSNR Reporting Requirements. Subsequently the platform implemented two initiatives, the Shared Investment Mechanism sought to pool funding for impact projects tackling the route causes of unsustainable rubber practices, and the Assurance Mechanism, which seeks to implement 3rd-party assurance of GPSNR members’ due diligence efforts. Wildground has now joined GPSNR and aims to support the rubber sector to implement practical and robust ESG requirements, aimed at enhancing smallholder livelihoods and tackling deforestation and nature loss.

As we embark on membership, we’ve summarised what GPSNR is and what sustainability requirements have been put in place since its inception in 2018. This guide is aimed at helping buyers and financiers to understand how GPSNR data and initaitives can help them engage with and assess risk in the sector.

The mini guide covers:

What the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR) is;
What sustainability requirements GPSNR members are expected to meet;
How GPSNR data can be used by buyers and financial institutions to identify ESG risk and opportunities.

GPSNR has come a long way since its inception — membership now takes companies through a journey from aligning around robust policy commitments, improving transparency of ESG impact, pooling funding and - from 2026 - will provide 3rd-party assurance of members ESG due diligence. For companies and financial institutions that want to accelerate progress on deforestation, human rights and smallholder inclusion, there’s now a wealth of ESG data available on GPSNR companies.

Explore the mini guide to learn more. Reach out to Wildground for tailored insights and due diligence in the natural rubber sector.