Why did only 30 firms sign up to tackle deforestation?

13,200 sq km of rainforest razed in a year

The pace of destruction of the Amazon rainforest is at its worst since 2006 and yet only 30 financial institutions signed up to the deforestation pledge that came out of COP26. What is holding firms back and what is being done to encourage them to tackle the issues?

More than 13,200 sq km of rainforest was razed in the 12 months between August last year and July, according to data from the National Institute for Space research released in November. This is a 22% jump from the previous year and the highest rate of deforestation since 2006. At COP26, asset managers pledged to play a role in tackling deforestation, with roughly 30 firms with $8.7trn in assets under management responding to the COP presidency request for financial institutions to take action to eliminate agricultural commodity-driven deforestation from their portfolios by 2025. Howev...