Cattle ranching in Brazil, home to the world’s second largest herd, remains a major cause of deforestation. This trend continues despite meatpackers and retailers having made commitments to deforestation-free supply chains in the last ten years. This report describes the economic role of the cattle sector in Brazil, key supply chain actors, their role in …
From 2000 through 2011, 68 percent of all foreign capital, or USD 18.4 billion, flowing through nine of the top companies in the beef and soy markets in the Amazon was transferred through tax havens, according to a new paper published on August 13, 2018 in Nature Ecology and Evolution. The research highlights how companies …
CalPERS, the largest U.S. state pension fund with USD 355 billion in assets under management and 1.9 million beneficiaries (as of July 11, 2018), updated its investment policy to include deforestation risk as a material risk to be considered in its investment decisions. CalPERS updated its Total Fund Investment Policy, effective June 18, 2018. This …
Carrefour will invest USD 1.5 million towards sourcing sustainable beef and the state of Mato Grosso’s initiative, which seeks to restore degraded land and protect forests in the Cerrado and Amazon regions of Brazil. The Mato Grosso initiative includes a platform on which ranchers and farmers can register their sustainable practices to connect with corporate …
Over the past two weeks, two green bonds were issued in Indonesia. The Government of Indonesia issued a USD 1.25 billion green sukuk bond – a government first – while Tropical Landscapes Finance Facility (TLFF) issued a USD 95 million sustainability bond. Both bonds target some of their proceeds towards sustainable landscapes, but these two …
The Norwegian Government Pension Fund has slowly ramped up its response to deforestation concerns within its portfolio. The Fund has a history of addressing risks in sectors and companies that it considers prone to long-term risks. This included companies that face elevated risks from environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. Between 2012 and 2015, the …
Download Report Here (PDF) Summary BrasilAgro might face the risk of losing access to clients and an overvaluation of its land portfolio because of its sustainability impacts. Investors with forest policies might have most leverage through engagement with BrasilAgro’s parent company Cresud. BrasilAgro can course correct by addressing deforestation risks while improving returns via traceable …
Asian Pacific Resources International (APRIL), one of the world’s largest pulp-and-paper companies, has been linked to deforestation in Indonesia. With the leak of the so-called ‘Paradise Papers’ this week, further information about APRIL’s financial backers have been revealed, leading to more questions about whether banks such as ABN AMRO follow their own sustainability policies and …
JBS has canceled a USD 500 million IPO of processed food subsidiary JBS Foods International BV (JBSFI) planned for 2018. The IPO was initially scheduled to occur in H1 2017 before JBS experienced scandals regarding alleged insider trading, political bribery and meat safety corruption, deforestation and human rights concerns. Past reporting by Chain Reaction Research …
Download Report Here (PDF) Coffee production has been identified by the Peruvian Agricultural Census of 2012 as one of the major drivers of deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon, making up 25.4 percent of agricultural land in this region. Smallholders with less than 5 hectares (ha) of land produce 62 percent of the coffee grown in …
