New data released today by transparency initiative Trase shows that soy plantations continue to rapidly replace forests, savannah, grasslands and other ecosystems across Brazil, particularly in the Cerrado and the Pampas, posing grave threats to the climate and biodiversity.

Clearing carbon-rich natural vegetation contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions. In 2020, Brazil’s soy production on recently deforested and converted land released 103 million tonnes of CO₂ – 11% of the country’s total annual land-use change emissions.

Soy plantations have expanded most significantly onto native vegetation in the Cerrado. In 2020, they took over 264,000 ha of recently deforested and converted lands – an area almost twice the size of the city of São Paulo.

There is also active clearance of natural grasslands in the Pampas, one of Brazil’s most threatened biomes. This threat has been almost entirely overlooked in the past due to lack of data. In 2020, soy replaced 196,000 ha of recently converted Pampas.

In 2020, soy covered 76,400 ha of recently deforested land in the Amazon. Forest in the Amazon continued to be cleared for soy after 2008, despite the Soy Moratorium agreed by traders. In 2020, such lands represented 133,000 ha of soy production.

Exports from the three largest, established traders – Bunge, Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland – continue to be linked to sourcing regions with the most deforestation and conversion. Following rapid expansion into trading Brazilian soy since 2017, Olam Group is now among the top five traders linked to soy conversion, together with Gavilon.

Voluntary zero-deforestation commitments from traders only covered about 50% of exports in 2020.