Progress on COP26 pledges: deforestation

3. UK Environment Act kicks off consultations: In August 2020 the UK government announced plans to introduce a new law that bans large businesses from using deforestation-linked products, and in December 2021 it launched consultations on implementing new measures in the Act to block businesses from using products grown illegally on deforested land. Between March and September 2022 the government began consulting on the due-diligence components of the Act. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Liz Truss, however, government plans to pay farmers for nature-friendly farming practices and initiatives like planting trees among crops and livestock are likely to be scrapped. 

4. Supermarkets across Europe drop sales of deforestation-linked meat, and Norwegian asset manager urges action on deforestation: In December 2021 large supermarket chains in Belgium, France, the Netherlands and the UK announced that they would drop meat products with links to deforestation in Brazil. In January 2022 Norwegian asset manager Storebrand began upping the pressure on agricultural traders to address deforestation in their supply chains, putting companies on exclusion and observation lists.

5. Brazil is still losing precious rainforest at alarming rates: Brazil is home to some of the most ecologically important areas in the world. Deforestation has been so excessive since 2017 that it’s turning the Amazon rainforest from an incredibly powerful carbon sink (ie, net absorber of carbon) into a carbon source. Deforestation rates in Brazil in the first nine months of 2022 were at the highest levels since the area’s current deforestation alert system began tracking data in 2007.