BNP Paribas, the largest bank in France, has announced today that it will no longer finance firms who produce, or buy, beef or soybeans from land in the Amazon that was cleared or converted after 2008 (and will encourage its clients not to produce or buy beef or soybeans from cleared or converted land in the Cerrado after 1 January 2020).
For all its customers, BNP Paribas will require full traceability of beef and soy (direct and indirect) channels by 2025. This announcement follows wider international trends, including the UK's recent consultation on whether to introduce a new law aimed at preventing forests and other important natural areas globally from being illegally converted in to agricultural land, which has led to an amendment to the draft Environment Bill, to reduce pressures on forest-risk commodities (such as palm oil, rubber, soya, beef, cocoa and leather) –all linked to significant amounts of deforestation globally. Find out more here.
