Supporting Deforestation-Free Supply Chains: RCF Featured at Brazilian Agritech Briefing 2025 during LCAW

The Responsible Commodities Facility (RCF) was featured as a concrete example of how innovative, climate-aligned finance can support sustainable agriculture in Brazil.

On 25 June 2025, Sustainable Investment Management (SIM) CEO, Pedro Moura Costa, and Steven Ripley, Director of Investor Engagement, joined leading stakeholders at the 5th Brazilian Agritech Briefing, hosted by the Embassy of Brazil in London during London Climate Action Week and in celebration of 200 years of Brazil–UK diplomatic relations. The event brought together investors, policymakers, and agribusiness leaders to explore Brazil’s leadership in sustainable agriculture, reforestation, and green finance.

Representing SIM, Pedro presented the RCF’s impact to date, highlighting that RCF-supported farms currently conserve over 130,000 hectares of native vegetation, estimated to store a volume of carbon equivalent to around 5% of the UK’s annual carbon footprint.

The RCF was launched in 2022 with the backing of UK-based supermarket groups and Rabobank in 2023, among other investors, marking an innovative collaboration across Brazil, the UK, and the Netherlands. This cross-sectoral alignment on deforestation-free supply chains reflects a growing strategic interest at the intersection of climate policy and international trade.

As Brazil prepares to host COP30, the Briefing reaffirmed the country’s position as a key partner in advancing credible, nature-based climate solutions that deliver both environmental and economic returns.

SIM warmly thanks H.E. Antonio de Aguiar Patriota, Ambassador of Brazil to the UK, and the Embassy of Brazil in London for hosting such a timely and impactful event.

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Eligibility Criteria for Cerrado Programme 1

The following eligibility criteria are required for participation in the Responsible Commodities Facility for Cerrado Programme 1 (see full description here):

Land use

The area of cultivation must not have had any deforestation and conversion of native vegetation since 1 Jan 2020*. Preference will be given to areas converted from abandoned pasture land to soy cultivation after 2008.

Forest Code Compliance

Farm land must be registered with the Cadastro Ambiental Rural (CAR). The farm must contain and maintain areas of native vegetation equivalent to those required for Legal Reserve and Areas of Permanent Protection (APPs) determined by the Forest code or have formally adhered to a Programme of Environmental Regularization (PRA) established by the state environmental agency**. The farm area must not overlap with public protected areas, indigenous lands and other traditional people and community lands (including ‘quilombolas territories’).

Land title

Farmers must have unquestionable right to use the land, be it as land title, land lease agreement, or another legally recognised form of land tenure (e.g., ‘posse’)

Legal Compliance

Farmers must demonstrate that they and their farms do not contravene any environmental or legal requirements, such as embargoes, environmental irregularities, contraventions of the labour legislation (including slave and child labour), non-compliance with the Soy Moratorium (if applicable), and internationally-accepted rules for the use of agrochemicals.

*Farmers occasionally request the conversion of small areas of native vegetation to conduct farm improvements (building storage areas, water reservoirs, etc.). Provided that these areas are small and not for the purpose of expansion of the agricultural area, RCF analyses and considers them eligible. In order to do so, RCF uses the concept of Minimal Level (of deforestation or conversion) as defined by the Accountability Framework Initiative Terms and Definitions, which states “To be considered consistent with no-deforestation or no-conversion commitments, minimal levels must generally meet the following conditions: Not exceed cumulative thresholds that are small both in absolute terms (e.g., no more than a few hectares) and relative to the area in question (e.g., no more than a small proportion of the site).”

**The RCF analyses Forest Code compliance by looking at single farms (defined as the area covered by a CAR) or bundles of individual CARs that, in combination, result in the desired area of native vegetation put under the protective status of the RCF.  This bundling should not be understood as a means of compliance with the Forest Code requirements and is not intended to release the farmer of the regularization process committed under the Forest Code rules (enrolment in the CAR, engagement in a PRA, etc.). In order to differentiate its metrics from those of the Forest Code, the RCF refers to areas of Excess Native Vegetation (ENV) as opposed to Excess Legal Reserve, to avoid confusion with areas legally categorised under the Forest Code.