Large companies ignore promises to combat deforestation, study finds

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Large companies and financial institutions with the greatest potential to combat global deforestation act without taking into account the promises to protect forests made at COP26, indicated a study published this Thursday (13).

The NGO Global Canopy reviewed data from 350 companies accused of being the main responsible for deforestation, directly or indirectly. In addition, it analyzed 150 banks, investment and pension funds that finance these companies.

According to this analysis, one in three companies studied did not commit to protecting forests and 72% of them have some objective, but that does not extend to all their products or activities related to deforestation.

Some companies have targets for specific products, mainly soy, beef or leather, but “they don’t provide evidence of how they are going to launch them.”

“Very few companies recognize the climate risks caused by deforestation and even fewer include their supply chain in assessments,” Niki Mardas, from the organization Global Canopy, told AFP.

Cargill, Colgate-Palmolive, Nestlé, Unilever and PepsiCo were the companies with the most favorable evaluation, while about 60 companies, many of them from China, Brazil and Argentina, received the lowest possible score.

If the financial entities are analyzed, 93 of the 150 analyzed do not have a deforestation policy that covers companies and investments most dependent on projects that affect forests.

Only about twenty banks or investment companies have a policy to analyze advances in deforestation.

“Reducing agriculture that encourages deforestation to cut emissions in two and repair the destruction of biodiversity by 2030 is not an option, but a necessity for companies committed to credible carbon neutrality,” commented Nigel Topping, former president of Climate NGO We Mean Business.

“Without that, we won’t be able to limit warming to 1.5°C” compared to the pre-industrial era.

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