This report discusses the EU’s regulation on deforestation-free products and how its requirements will affect the palm oil industry, one of the key commodities driving deforestation. The upcoming law, expected to be implemented in 2023, will have implications for palm oil supply chain actors and their financers. Watch our webinar covering the findings of this …
BrasilAgro, a Brazilian rural real estate firm and soy producer, has plans to convert at least 10,000 hectares (ha) of Cerrado native vegetation for livestock and grain production, which include the drilling of several large-capacity wells. Chain Reaction Research has previously flagged the company’s clearing operations in Brazil and its associated business risks. BrasilAgro has …
Investors are continuing to urge governments and companies to take actions to conserve forests and curb commodity-driven deforestation. A group of NGOs and activist investors are currently putting together a sign-on letter in support of three key pieces of legislation in the United States that aim to decrease deforestation risks and human rights abuses in …
Agropalma SA, the largest exporter of palm oil in Brazil, is facing legal and reputational risks from being ordered to pay a fine due to poor working conditions on two farms in Tailândia, which is in northeast Pará. The Labor Court of Tucuruí (also located in Pará) ordered the company to pay just under 1 …
In the light of environmental and social sustainability concerns in relation to palm oil from Southeast Asia, several Latin American countries see an opportunity to open export markets as they present palm oil from the region as a more sustainable option. However, social and environmental sustainability concerns are also prominent in the Latin American sector …
Oil palm growers in Brazil have argued that palm oil production is a “green solution” to safeguard the Amazon as a result of planting on areas already degraded and cleared only before 2008. While palm oil production in the Brazilian Amazon has relatively lower environmental impacts than soy and beef, this paper shows how also …
The recently released PRODES data for 2021 shows deforestation of 13,235 km2 (1,323,500 hectares) in the Legal Amazon, the highest number since 2008 and an increase of 22 percent when compared to the previous year (the annual rates cover a timeframe from August of the previous year to July of the current year). Since the …
Just two weeks after a watershed announcement by more than 100 countries at COP26 on eliminating deforestation, the EU released a draft law on November 17 that would require companies to show that their products are not tied to forest clearing. Essentially, the legislation would ban commodities that are linked to deforestation, whether legal or …
Commitments coming out of COP26 could represent a structural shift in efforts to conserve forests and tackle commodity-driven deforestation. The announcement that more than 100 countries, including those with vast amounts of tropical forests such as Brazil and Indonesia, pledged to eliminate deforestation by 2030 is a crucial breakthrough. Fossil fuels typically get most of …
An investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Greenpeace Unearthed, ITV News, and the Daily Mirror has found links between deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon and Cerrado biomes and British dairy products. Soy trader Cargill, leading European animal nutrition company ForFarmers, and multiple consumer goods companies are connected to the supply chain of Grupo Scheffer, a …
