First Movers Coalition for Food 2026

PATHWAY 1 Spec-anchored sourcing What it means Spec-anchored sourcing embeds sustainability requirements directly into sourcing specifications, contracts and supplier evaluations, while strengthening supplier collaboration. This pathway integrates sustainability outcomes into what companies buy, treating attributes such as zero deforestation, verified water management or methane reduction as part of the product definition. Its core features can also include deeper collaboration with suppliers to help them meet these requirements, supported by aligned product standards and internal incentives. How it works –Cross-functional teams from procurement, finance, research and development (R&D) and sustainability work together to design sourcing strategies that go beyond cost, quality and availability. This alignment helps build the internal business case for more resilient and sustainable sourcing, ensuring procurement has the mandate and support needed to operationalize it. –Procurement teams embed outcome-based criteria into RFPs, contracts and supplier scorecards, making environmental and social performance a core part of supplier evaluation. On-farm resilience benefits are captured through formal contracting. –Buyers actively support suppliers in meeting expectations. This may require long-term contracts, technical assistance, co-investment or shared platforms to help give farmers the tools and skills they need for delivery. Such efforts may extend to multi-stakeholder initiatives. –These projects are directly embedded in procurement, with funding typically coming from the function’s P&L, sometimes complemented by external capital. It is especially powerful when buyers directly engage with suppliers, co-operatives or intermediaries to co-develop systems such as data platforms, MRV tools or sourcing protocols that make performance- based procurement possible. Robust implementation of on-farm measures and consistent and holistic implementation of specs can complement compliance standards. The boxes below showcase how leading food companies have implemented this approach. Spec-anchored sourcing embeds sustainability directly into sourcing specifications, contracts and supplier evaluations, while strengthening supplier collaboration. Spec-anchored sourcing – Walmart: sustainable fishing specifications in tuna sourcing BOX 10 Spec-anchored sourcing – JBS invests in tracking and tracing 2 million Brazilian cattle BOX 11Walmart’s partnership with Pacific Island Tuna (PIT), a joint venture between The Nature Conservancy and the Republic of the Marshall Islands, demonstrates a spec-anchored sourcing approach. The partnership enabled Walmart to embed responsible fishing practices and full transparency requirements – including 100% on-the-water monitoring, full vessel traceability and controls on high-seas transshipment – into the sourcing of its Great Value tuna brand.42 For Walmart, the partnership strengthens long-term supply security and reinforces brand trust, while supporting more stable commercial opportunities for local fishing communities. Since 2022, PIT’s supply chain has produced 40 million cans of Walmart’s tuna that meet these sustainability specifications.43 Based on current delivery expectations through 2025, this could represent up to 5% of Walmart’s annual canned tuna sales. JBS, the world’s largest meat-processing enterprise, The Nature Conservancy and IDH are working together to promote deforestation-free cattle ranching in the Brazilian Amazon. This investment supports JBS’s deforestation-free sourcing commitment,44 as individual animal tagging enables full traceability and helps verify compliance. JBS is investing over $7 million to tag 2 million head of cattle, enabling individual animal identification and traceability, and providing technical support to farmers. This is part of a broader public-private programme to track and trace the entire cattle herd in Pará state, totalling almost 26 million animals,45 by the end of 2026.46 JBS previously collaborated with IDH in Mato Grosso on a similar sustainable calves production programme aimed at ending deforestation while supporting local farmers.47 While JBS’s leadership is encouraging, broader industry participation, particularly from downstream food companies and retailers, will be critical to amplify the demand signal and expand impact. First Movers Coalition for Food: CEO Lessons for the Future of Food Procurement 14