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 …
Active fires were detected on the Fazenda Perdizes farm on August 24, 2021 in Porto dos Gaúchos, Mato Grosso. The property is owned and operated by SLC Agrícola, the largest soybean producer in Brazil. Fazenda Perdizes consists of areas held under SLC Agrícola’s ownership and through joint ventures with other companies. The recently detected fires …
In a landmark decision, on May 26, 2021, a Dutch civil court ordered Shell to cut its CO2 emissions by net 45 percent in 2030 compared to 2019 levels. The decision states that the reduction obligation relates to the Shell’s entire energy portfolio and to the aggregate volume of all emissions (Scope 1 to 3), …
Beef and soy industries in the Southern Amazon region of Brazil are at risk of almost USD 200 billion of productivity losses due to Amazon deforestation, according to a new scientific study. The study, published in Nature Communications in May 2021, looked at the relationship between deforestation and rainfall. It also assessed the impact of …
There has been a string of recent shareholder votes in favor of companies taking action to adopt or strengthen deforestation commitments. This trend is likely to increase as deforestation becomes a greater part of the climate change narrative and investors increase their understanding of how links to forest lost can lead to a variety of …
A new Greenpeace investigation finds that Brazil’s leading meat processor JBS and its top competitors Marfrig and Minerva purchased cattle from ranchers linked to the 2020 Pantanal fires as well as other environmental and social controversies in recent years. The meatpackers reportedly continue to source from some of these ranchers despite having been informed about …
