Bridging sustainable finance and sustainable land use initiatives to reduce deforestation: An overview of EU and Brazilian legislation

Land use change contributes to 23% of global emissions and leads to great loss of biodiversity, nevertheless finance for sustainable land use pales in comparison to financial flows towards harmful agricultural and logging activities. Can sustainable finance instruments help shift the balance in favor of a climate-resilient economy in line with the Paris Agreement?

Legislações da EU e do Brasil (in Portuguese)

This report, co-authored by Climate & Company, Amigos da Terra, Tropical Forest Alliance and Climate Focus, tackles this very issue through the assessment of the main policies and regulations applicable to sustainable land use, including reducing and halting deforestation, and sustainable finance in the European Union and Brazil, including those that are currently in development. It covers, for instance, the EU proposal for a regulation on deforestation-free products, the future Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence and Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directives, as well as the new Brazilian Forest Code and the Central Bank Sustainability Agenda.

The aim of this report is to explain how relevant legal instruments in the EU and Brazil aim to facilitate the transition to investments into sustainable economic activities. With our partners, we have also highlighted opportunities for increased coherence and complementarity between Brazilian and European frameworks, which we hope policy makers will seize.