A new whitepaper from Systemiq calls for urgent action to address the systemic and economic drivers behind deforestation. It outlines three clear paths forward for public and private finance to make forest protection viable across global supply chains.
New analysis by Systemiq for the Mobilising Finance for Forests (MFF) programme – Deforestation-Free Commodities: Investing in Deforestation-Free Supply Chains as a Strategic Imperative – was launched at London Climate Action Week. It highlights that deforestation isn’t just an environmental issue, it’s a growing business risk.
And while laws like the EU Deforestation Regulation are changing expectations for corporate supply chains, most companies still aren’t moving fast enough because the economics of deforestation still work against conservation.
For many producers, especially in emerging markets, clearing forests is more profitable than protecting them. The incentives to deforest are baked into the system – agricultural expansion, poor land tenure protections, high compliance costs, and uneven value distribution across the chain.
Our paper calls for a major shift in how public and private finance approach the issue. It estimates that $210 billion a year is needed to build deforestation-free agricultural supply chains. Current flows cover only a fraction of that, and private capital in key high-deforestation-risk commodity supply chains like cocoa, palm oil, and soybean remain limited.
