What we do

We are financing our way into extinction. A combination of deforestation, industrial agriculture and overexploitation of resources is destroying the ecosystems and biodiversity on which we all depend. It is exacerbating climate change and raising the risk of future pandemics. It is destroying the rights and livelihoods of Indigenous and local communities. And it is pushing us ever-closer to dangerous tipping points in the Earth’s system, such as the loss of the Amazon rainforest.

Learn how we're combatting this

Palm oil plantation in Indonesia iStock-1171671137

We are all connected to this problem. It is baked into our globalised system of trade and finance. Whether through the products we buy, our pensions, or our financial decisions, we are driving impacts we do not see. Last year alone, the world’s 50 biggest banks provided $2.6tn in financing to companies driving nature loss. Every six seconds an area of rainforest the size of a football field is cleared for commodities like soy, beef, timber and palm oil – which end up in half the packaged goods in our supermarkets.

Yet these impacts remain largely hidden from view. Global markets may be increasingly alert to the risks, but the complexity and opacity of supply chains and finance are major barriers to change. Companies and campaigners alike warn that this lack of transparency is hindering effective action, regulation and accountability.

Photo of all speakers on stage © Niven Photography

Global Canopy is changing this. We’re a data-driven not for profit that targets the market forces destroying nature.

Working with partners around the world, we identify and make accessible the data needed to transition away from this destructive status quo. Our data, metrics and insights are enabling companies, financial institutions and governments to tackle their hidden sustainability risks – while at the same time enabling campaigners and the media to hold to account those that are failing to act.

Last year alone, the world’s 50 biggest banks provided

$2.6 trillion

in financing to companies driving nature loss.

Over the coming five years, we will work towards the following big objectives:

  1. Improving data for nature: Addressing priority data gaps to make links between markets and impacts on nature and people more transparent and accountable.
  2. Transforming company ESG ratings on nature: Getting state-of-the-art metrics on deforestation into mainstream ESG ratings, that govern how so much global capital flows.
  3. Changing the rules of the game on nature: Enabling strong legislation and mandatory reporting frameworks worldwide on deforestation, and related impacts on nature and people.
  4. Targeting China’s global footprint: Providing new data, metrics and insight on the trade and financing links of China (as the world’s biggest importer of deforestation) with impacts on nature worldwide.
  5. Unlocking nature positive investment: Leveraging our innovative data on environmental and social risk to identify opportunities for investment in positive impact.

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© 2024 Global Canopy. Registered charity number: 1089110. All rights reserved.

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