Forest IQ

🎊 Celebrating one year of Forest IQ 🌳 Today marks one year since the launch of Forest IQ, a powerful data platform designed to help financial institutions tackle one of the planet’s most pressing challenges – #deforestation. The platform includes actionable data on how more than 2,000 companies are addressing their links to this issue. A #COP16 roundtable organised by Institut de la Finance Durable highlighted the vital role #forests play in mitigating #climatechange and supporting #biodiversity, and explored the actionable strategies and best practices the finance sector can use to combat deforestation. “Hundreds of indicators can be quite confusing,” said Executive Director of Global Canopy Niki Mardas, speaking about Forest IQ as part of the roundtable. He explained how Forest IQ helps to make things clearer – partly because it was designed with financial institutions, to identify the core metrics most important to them: exposure, materiality and reported performance.    We've developed three high-level core metrics that map transparently to a number of sub-metrics and best-in-class datasets, giving banks and investors both a snapshot and in-depth understanding of the picture – ultimately equipping them to identify high-risk companies and engage with them more effectively.    As regulatory pressures grow, financial institutions have a unique opportunity to lead in this space. Sign up for Forest IQ today -> https://forestiq.org/

🏆 Forest IQ, developed by us, Global Canopy, and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), has been named “One to Watch” by the Global Good Awards in Finance Player of the Year! “We are delighted that Forest IQ has been awarded 'One to Watch' in the Global Good Awards Finance Player of the Year,” said Freya Bannochie, Forest IQ Lead at Global Canopy. Data for Forest IQ is partly provided by Trase - Intelligence for sustainable trade, our supply chain transparency initiative with Global Canopy. “The success of Forest IQ is a testament to the hard work and collaboration of countless people. Within Trase, we produce and share innovative supply chain and impact data to help inform positive actions,” added SEI’s Simon Croft. Read more: https://buff.ly/4fhH5Lm #ChangeMaker #Deforestation #SupplyChains #Finance #Sustainability #GlobalGoodAwards2024

New rules on #deforestation are demanding higher levels of compliance from food and beverage companies. Catherine Early reports on the plethora of digital platforms using #AI to help companies and investors comply, in this article from #EthicalCorp's in-depth briefing on #RegenerativeAgriculture (download PDF: https://lnkd.in/eeKxP99E) Allison Kopf, TRACT, Freya Bannochie, Forest IQ, Matt Wood, Cargill, Joanna Fowler, Nestlé, Global Canopy, Rainforest Alliance. Terry Slavin, Liam Dowd, ING, ADM Louis Dreyfus Company, Olam. #SustainableAgriculture #DeforestationFree #biodivesity #COP16 #EUDRCompliance #FoodIndustrySustainability #AgriTech #DeforestationPrevention #SupplyChainTransparency #GlobalDeforestation #InvestorImpact #ClimateAction 4o https://lnkd.in/eykcfKJy

🌳 When it comes to tackling #deforestation, investors can no longer use #data gaps as an excuse. 📢 Freya Bannochie spoke to Reuters about our platforms Forest IQ and DEFT Pathway, which help investors to understand their risk hotspots and make clear, evidence-based asks of companies. 📈 “What Forest IQ does as a starting point is provide the mapping that financial institutions probably tried to do in house with quite limited resources," Freya explained. 🎯 “Financial institutions know that they fund company A and that they’re exposed to deforestation, but do they really know what to ask of them? DEFT Pathway generates a specific action, so all the financial institutions that are funding them can make the same ask," she added. Read the article by Catherine Early -> https://lnkd.in/eykcfKJy   Discover Forest IQ -> https://forestiq.org/  Explore DEFT Pathway -> https://deftpathway.org/ 

⌛ As #COP16 unfolds, the clock is ticking for the finance sector to take decisive action on #deforestation. 💡 In a recent conversation with Stephanie Kimball, Sue Reid, Climate Finance Advisor to Christiana Figueres at Global Optimism, emphasised the need for investors to redirect finance away from activities that are destroying #nature, and instead towards supporting natural ecosystems on which people and economies depend. 🌳 The good news? There are impactful actions investors can take to shift financial flows in the right direction – in particular through a focus on ending deforestation. 🔎 Tools like the Finance Sector Roadmap provide a comprehensive guide for reducing deforestation exposure, while Forest IQ offers essential data insights. 📈 The upcoming Deforestation-free Transition (DEFT) Pathway will further empower financial institutions to navigate their transition, helping to categorise companies based on their progress and  highlight priority and timebound next actions. ➡ Learn more about these resources here -> Finance Sector Roadmap: https://lnkd.in/ggRxAG2Q Forest IQ: https://forestiq.org/ DEFT Pathway: https://deftpathway.org/  Read the interview here -> https://lnkd.in/ehbQQUPH Nature4Climate

Great to see this piece which explores an array of developments in the deforestation data landscape, ahead of forthcoming regulation. For this article, I chatted to Catherine Early for Reuters' Ethical Corporation Magazine about Forest IQ and the DEFT Pathway. These tools provide standardised data and guidance, helping financial institutions to identify deforestation risk in their holdings and categorise companies according to their level of progress, highlighting priority and timebound next actions. Global Canopy, SEI — Stockholm Environment Institute, Zoological Society of London (ZSL), Hannah Franklin, Pei Chi Wong https://lnkd.in/eKn3d87b

💷 Since 2021, UK banks have invested more than £1 billion in forest-risk companies despite the #UK government's commitment to end #deforestation by 2030, reveals a recent Global Witness study. 🌳 In response to the financial sector’s lack of adequate deforestation policies, Emma Thomson, Forest 500 and Tracking Lead at Global Canopy, told Global Witness that although the sector is “starting to wake up to the importance of acting on deforestation risk”, fewer than half of the financial institutions channeling money into the most exposed companies have deforestation policies. 📑 Thomson added that where policies do exist, they often contain “significant gaps” in areas like ecosystem conversion and associated human rights abuses. 🏦 Financial institutions must align their investments with their promises if we are to make meaningful strides towards halting deforestation, ecosystem conversion and associated #humanrights abuses. Read the study here -> https://lnkd.in/e2j4DDwF

🔎 New investigation 🐄 An investigation by Global Witness reveals that, in the last three years, two Paraguayan meatpacking companies, Minerva Foods and Frigorífico Concepción, have sourced cattle linked to more than 75,000 hectares of #deforestation in Paraguay’s Gran Chaco – an area almost the size of New York City. ⚠ Global Witness' analysis suggests that if the deforestation in Paraguay continues at its current pace, the Chaco would cease to exist by 2080 – an outcome that would have devastating results for the #climate and Paraguay's Indigenous Peoples. Emma Thomson, Forest 500 and Tracking Lead at Global Canopy, spoke to Global Witness as part of their investigation. Emma highlighted the need for companies to publish zero-deforestation and ecosystem conversion commitments, and evidence of how those commitments are being implemented. Read Global Witness' investigation here -> https://lnkd.in/dqn9nKS9 Read more about how Forest 500 assesses companies and financial institutions here -> https://lnkd.in/dSgjftn4 #GranChaco #IndigenousPeople #ZeroDeforestation

🔍With a focus on our new data offering, Floresta 250 - Cattle, and Frontierra’s satellite verification systems, this #COP16 discussion will showcase the latest data and tools critical to driving private sector action on deforestation. 🗓️25 Oct, 14:00-14:45 COT 📍Business & Nature Hub, Blue Zone 🗣️The expert panel moderated by James Pilkington includes Bruno Bernardo, Isadora M. Carvalho, Lucian Peppelenbos and Lewis Rattray. ➡️Check more details here: https://lnkd.in/ei5Z4eHB Robeco Zoological Society of London (ZSL) JGP

🏦 Financial institutions are uniquely placed to influence the companies they invest in to take action on #deforestation. ➡ Join us and Climate & Company on 25 Oct 2024, 17:00-17:45 COT, at Place Quebec: Business & Finance Hub, Blue Zone, to hear from financial institutions who are accelerating action and change around this crucial issue. 📑 The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) demands that financial institutions actively monitor and disclose their #biodiversity risks. There is sufficient data for financial institutions to identify the most significant deforestation risks in their portfolio. Yet 75% of major financial institutions lack a deforestation policy. 🗣 More details on the #COP16 discussion here: https://lnkd.in/esF6Y6b5 #COP16Cali #Cali #Colombia Isadora M. Carvalho Louise Simon