Corporate Performance

A growing number of companies and financial institutions are seeking to mitigate their impacts on nature. But many have made commitments that are not being met, and others are failing to take any action at all. Through our Corporate Performance work, Forest 500, Forest 500 – Finance and Floresta 250 – Cattle projects, we assess the policies and performance of influential companies and financial institutions. We also support investors, policymakers and other stakeholders by providing market-leading data on deforestation and ESG metrics through Deforestation-Free Finance and Forest IQ. In 2023, the Deforestation Action Tracker provided a snapshot of deforestation action by financial institutions with significant climate commitments. Deforestation-free Transition (DEFT) Pathway supports financial institutions to better engage with companies on deforestation, by synthesising existing frameworks, guidance and metrics into practical, actionable next steps. DEFT Pathway launches in September 2026.

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Forest 500

Global Canopy’s Forest 500 identifies the companies and financial institutions with the greatest exposure to deforestation risk, and annually assesses them on the strength and implementation of their deforestation and human rights commitments.

Read our 12th annual Forest 500 report, Data shows regulation drives action, for the latest data on the most influential companies in the deforestation economy. Read our Forest 500 – Finance report, Deforestation is a bad investment, for the latest data on financial institutions.

Forest 500 data is used by organisations around the world to track their progress on deforestation, and is used by some of the best performers themselves as a mark of their leadership.

Get in touch if you have questions about our work on Forest 500.

Visit Forest 500

“The annual Forest 500 score is a key metric for Marfrig and
its leadership – acting as a driver of engagement and action
both internally and with stakeholders. The company uses
the Forest 500 methodology to identify opportunities for
improvement in its practices and actively engages multiple
departments across the organisation in this journey.”

Marfrig BRF

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Floresta 250 – Cattle

Floresta 250 – Cattle is a data offering, supported by do Pasto ao Prato, that monitors the performance of key players in Brazil’s cattle supply chains. 

It identifies the 175 companies and 75 financial institutions with the greatest influence on Brazilian deforestation driven by cattle supply chains, and assesses these organisations on the strength and implementation of their commitments on deforestation, ecosystem conversion and associated human rights abuses.

Key findings on the assessed companies were first presented at biodiversity COP16 in Cali in October 2024. The complete report and full data were made available in December 2024. Updated findings were published in October 2025, and the full dataset in November 2025.

The findings reveal critical gaps in action on deforestation, ecosystem conversion and associated human rights abuses, highlighting the crucial next steps for these organisations and their stakeholders.

Also available in Portuguese Floresta 250 – Pecuária

Visit Floresta 250 – Cattle
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Deforestation-Free Finance

Global Canopy’s Deforestation-Free Finance project brings together practical guidance developed by a broad range of partners to support financial institutions to eliminate deforestation, conversion and associated human rights abuses from their financial portfolios.

The Finance & Deforestation Advisory Group has worked together to create the Finance Sector Roadmap for Eliminating Commodity-Driven Deforestation, defining the best practice for financial institutions linked to forest risk commodity supply chains.

Global Canopy has also created a Portuguese-language Roadmap, the Roteiro de Finanças Livres de Desmatamento. This has a special focus on clients, holdings operations and supply chains linked to Brazil’s cattle sector.

Explore the Roadmap

Deforestation Action Tracker

At COP26, more than 450 financial institutions, including insurers, asset owners and financial services providers, made net-zero climate commitments as part of the Glasgow Financial Alliance on Net Zero (GFANZ).

In 2023, Global Canopy’s Deforestation Action Tracker provided a snapshot of deforestation action by financial institutions with significant climate commitments including those in Race to Zero, GFANZ and the Finance Sector Deforestation Action (FSDA) group.

The Deforestation Action Tracker assessed over 700 financial institutions. Find out how they performed in our essential stocktake on finance sector action on deforestation.

Learn more
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Forest IQ

Forest IQ is a powerful data platform for financial institutions. It brings together aligned, best-in-class and actionable data on how more than 2,000 major companies address their links to deforestation.

It provides open data and metrics, alongside the paid-for Forest IQ Pro that gives users access to licensed data, financial identifiers and a bespoke API.

Forest IQ was designed in close consultation with 10 financial institutions, including some of the world’s largest and most exposed banks and asset managers. It is Accountability Framework-aligned.

It was created by an alliance of leading not-for-profits with deep expertise in data-driven approaches to tackling deforestation.

Visit Forest IQ
Cows in Brazil Image: iStock

Deforestation-free Transition (DEFT) Pathway

Deforestation-free Transition (DEFT) Pathway supports financial institutions to better engage with companies on deforestation.

It categorises companies according to their level of progress and highlights priority and timebound next actions. The Pathway synthesises existing frameworks, guidance and metrics into practical, actionable next steps and aligns with climate and nature transition plans.

DEFT Pathway is developed by leading institutions and experts working to end market-driven deforestation, including Global Canopy, the UN Climate Champions, Global Optimism, the Accountability Framework initiative, the Tropical Forest Alliance, Proforest and ZSL, in consultation with leading finance sector networks including Ceres, IIGCC, PRI and the former Finance Sector Deforestation Action Group.

Visit DEFT Pathway

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