Nyon, Switzerland - Today, The Forest Trust, a non-profit organisation which supports companies to improve sustainability in their supply chains, announced a major rebrand and name change to reflect its broader mission. The Forest Trust will henceforth be known as Earthworm Foundation.

Coinciding with the organisation’s 20-year anniversary, the rebrand marks a continuation of its past work to protect forests and a further expansion into soils, agriculture, oceans and human rights, with the ultimate aim of preserving the climate that allows life on Earth to thrive.

“20 years ago we set out to change timber supply chains and safeguard forests,” explained Bastien Sachet, Earthworm Foundation’s CEO. “Today, fighting deforestation is still one of our main goals, but over the years, working in supply chains, we have learnt that we cannot fix the serious environmental and social issues that our world faces by only concentrating on the forest biome. Finding a balance between human activities and the health of ecosystems cannot be achieved without also taking climate change into account – in this sense forests, soils, oceans and people are all interrelated.

“Changing our name is therefore about reflecting who we truly are - we identify with how earthworms relentlessly cultivate life,” Sachet continued. “They are practical healers, able to take a barren, almost lifeless patch of soil and make it fertile and full of vitality. We can relate to that in our daily work while we support our members to transform their supply chains.”

Headquartered in Switzerland with offices across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, Earthworm Foundation works closely with its members (brands, companies and producers of commodities ranging from palm oil to rubber, timber, cocoa, minerals and pulp and paper) to implement change that works for both people and the environment.

Developing solutions to combat complex, value-chain-based challenges, Earthworm Foundation has co-developed a series of innovative solutions and programmes over the years. Starling, for example, provides independent satellite monitoring and verification of no deforestation commitments; Kumacaya empowers local communities to monitor the social performance of supply chains and Rurality supports smallholder farmers to boost their resilience.

Since starting out, Earthworm Foundation’s programmes, its collaboration with its members and its work on the ground have had a tangible impact. In Indonesia, it helped earmark large areas of forest for conservation by co-designing the High Carbon Stock approach. Today, this approach underpins most of the deforestation commitments made by companies and governments. In Malaysia, over 20,000 passports have been returned to foreign workers, changing their lives for the better; while thousands of smallholders across the world have been positively impacted through our Rurality programme.

“As Earthworm Foundation we’ll be doing the same work, with the same values. Our DNA hasn’t changed. But, alongside our members, NGOs and partners, we’ll be aiming to catalyse change at a greater scope and wider scale,” Sachet continued. “We want to help solve the problems our world faces today and we want to co-create the solutions and practical tools to do so. We’re excited about this new step in our journey and look forward to sharing the results and challenges we face in transforming value chains around the world.”

About Earthworm Foundation

Earthworm Foundation is a non-profit organisation built on values and driven by the desire to positively impact the relationship between people and nature. With most of our staff operating directly on the ground where the issues are, we work with our members and partners to show that global supply chains can be an engine of prosperity without causing destruction of communities or ecosystems.

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