13 September 2018: A coalition of investors managing over US$5.6 trillion in assets joined a coalition of more than 70 large food companies in calling for zero deforestation in Brazil’s Cerrado region. In a statement at the Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS), the coalition urged action to halt deforestation in the Cerrado, adopt sustainable land management practices, and mitigate financial risks associated with deforestation and climate change.

In advance of the GCAS, the Farm Animal Investment Risk and Return (FAIRR) Initiative, a London-based investor network, galvanized support for the Statement of Support for the Cerrado Manifesto. In July 2018, FAIRR launched the Coller FAIRR Protein Producer Index, which assesses how 60 global livestock and aquaculture companies disclose and manage key environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks, including biodiversity loss and deforestation. The Assessment found that 84 percent of the companies in its Index do not have policies or targets to address deforestation risk. The FAIRR Initiative has partnered with Tesco, Marks & Spencer, McDonald’s, Ahold Delhaize, Unilever, Walmart and the Consumer Goods Forum to build investor support for the Cerrado Manifesto.

Approximately 50% of Cerrado’s forests and native vegetation have been cleared as a result of agricultural expansion in recent years.

In the Statement of Support, the coalition calls for companies in the meat and soy value chain to adopt policies to halt further deforestation in the Cerrado region. The Cerrado stores the equivalent of 13.7 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) and plays a critical role in Brazil’s fresh water systems. Approximately 50% of Cerrado’s forests and native vegetation have been cleared as a result of agricultural expansion in recent years, making the wooded grasslands one of the most threatened ecosystems on the planet.

Signatories to the Statement of Support commit to halt forest and native vegetation loss associated with agricultural commodity production and to work with industry, producers, governments and civil society to protect natural landscapes within a framework of land planning and good governance.

At the GCAS, the FAIRR Initiative announced that over 100 signatories have signed the Statement of Support. [Global Climate Action Summit Press Release] [Cerrado Statement] [Cerrado Manifesto]