Food & Drink
The Soy Scorecard
Companies including Asda, M&S and Waitrose scored for their sustainable soy use.
6 June 2016
Brazil’s competition authority, CADE (Administrative Council for Economic Defense), has issued a highly controversial ruling to suspend the Amazon Soy Moratorium (ASM) — a voluntary multi-sector pact that was created to protect the rainforest.
The ruling comes less than three months before the COP30 climate summit, which will take place in Brazil.
The decision is part of an investigation into what CADE has categorised as cartel-like behaviour and the sharing of commercially sensitive information among the agreement’s signatories.
Soy traders and industry associations now have 10 days to comply with the ruling or face substantial fines.
‘The suspension of the Amazon Soy Moratorium paves the way for even more deforestation in one of the planet’s most vital ecosystems, pushing it ever closer to an irreversible tipping point, where it becomes a carbon source, rather than a carbon sink.
‘Without this safeguard, soy expansion could drive forest destruction not only in the Amazon, but also in its neighbour Cerrado and in the Pantanal, impacting Indigenous communities on the frontline of deforestation and destroying precious habitat for endangered species.
‘The suspension of the Amazon Soy Moratorium is not just a Brazilian issue – it is a global climate and biodiversity concern. Allowing deforestation-linked soy into international markets could weaken years of progress on climate commitments and erode consumer confidence in sustainable agriculture.
‘At this critical crossroads months before the climate COP in the Amazon, Brazil must decide whether to align its agribusiness sector with global sustainability standards or risk sacrificing long-term planetary health for short-term economic interests. Will it choose to protect the Amazon or allow it to be traded away?’
JOÃO GONÇALVES
Mighty Earth’s senior director for Brazil
WWF-UK warned that tearing up the Soy Moratorium ahead of the COP30 climate talks ‘sends the wrong signal’, adding that Amazon Soy Moratorium figures show it has been one of the greatest successes in curbing deforestation since its implementation in 2006.
In 2004-2005, the Brazilian Amazon experienced the second-highest annual deforestation rate ever recorded. Livestock farming was the main threat, but at the same time a new frontier for soybeans had opened in places like Santarém and Belterra, which were far from the traditional ‘arc of deforestation’ that had devastated Brazilian states Rondônia, Mato Grosso and regions of south and east of Pará.
In April 2006, Greenpeace released the report Eating up the Amazon, which showed how much the Amazon soy chain was contaminated by deforestation. After many rounds of negotiations, the Soy Moratorium was born, the result of a successful campaign and pressure exerted by consumers around the world.
Over the years the Moratorium became a great commercial asset; producing deforestation-free soy opened the doors to more markets at a time of growing awareness regarding provenance, sustainable consumption and the climate emergency.
‘The Soy Moratorium has proven that protecting the Amazon and maintaining soy production for global animal feed can go hand in hand. The moratorium has been very successful in protecting the world’s most biodiverse forest and a vital ally in our fight against dangerous climate change.
‘Tearing up this agreement on the eve of the COP30 climate talks sends completely the wrong signal to the world. This year’s COP30 in Brazil was hailed as ‘the forest talks’ and is expected to highlight the importance of protecting nature with the COP Presidency hoping to launch funding to protect forests forever.
‘This is a perilous development that puts a decade long agreement to protect the Amazon in the bin and would have a far-reaching impact on UK and global companies too. This suspension has to be reversed. After a summer of fires and extreme heat experienced right across the world, now more than ever we need to be safeguarding the Amazon.’
TANYA STEELE
WWF-UK’s chief executive
A 2006 view from above on a flight from Manaus to Santarem of a deforested area while Greenpeace was documenting a number of areas in the Amazon, looking at people, natural wildlife and the impact that the soya industry was having on the rainforest landscape. © Greenpeace / Daniel Beltrá
Between 2009 and 2022, the municipalities monitored by the Moratorium saw a 69% reduction in deforestation, and the area planted with soybeans in the Amazon biome grew 344%.
Of this growth, 95.6% occurred in areas already deforested and opened for destruction before 2008, mainly for pastures.
During this same period, Brazil became the largest soybean producer in the world, responsible for more than a third of the grain produced globally.
Companies including Asda, M&S and Waitrose scored for their sustainable soy use.
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