The Global Canopy podcast

The finance sector talks about a nature-positive transition, but actual money flows don’t match the rhetoric. Nature-negative finance dwarfs investments to protect and restore nature. So is the finance sector equipped to lead the charge towards a world that puts nature first? In this Question-Time style event, leading financiers, academics and thought leaders will debate how to get to a nature-positive world and whether finance holds the key.As part of the 2026 Marmalade Festival and Skoll World Forum Global Canopy hosted a special Question Time style debate moderated by our Executive Director Niki Mardas.On the panel were Pavan Sukhdev, Founder and CEO of GIST impact, Jenny McInnes, Climate and Finance Lead at Ostara,  Alexandra Pinzon-Torres, Nature-Positive Lead, Global Canopy and Pajani Singah, Co Founder and Investment Director Amazonia Impact Investors.

This podcast introduces the newest edition in Global Canopy’s Little Book series, The Little Book of Nature Business – An investment framework for tomorrow’s world. The book offers investors, lenders, businesses and policymakers a simple inspirational guide to investing in a nature-positive economy. Moderated by Global Canopy's Nature-Positive Lead, Alexandra Pinzon-Torres, the podcast features a panel of experts: Andrew Mitchell - the book’s co-author and Global Canopy’s Founder and Senior Advisor David Craig - Co-chair of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures John Tobin-de la Puente, the book’s co-author and Professor of Practice at the SC Johnson College of Business, Cornell UniversityDorothy Maseke, Head of ANCA Secretariat and Lead, Nature Finance and TNFD at FSD Africa, joining us from Cape TownSantiago Cortés, Senior Responsible Investment Manager at APG Asset ManagementMitch Reznick, Group Head of Fixed Income – London at Federated Hermes Ltd.The podcast looks at the new book and what’s in it for financial institutions and explores the role that investors and lenders can play in the transition toward a nature-positive economy.

This podcast focuses on the latest Global Canopy and Trase data and guidance around Brazil's cattle sector. It exposes the shocking levels of deforestation linked to cattle pasture in Brazil, but also highlights opportunities for action.You’ll hear from Global Canopy’s communications lead Darren Mckenzie and our Trase South American Engagement Lead Paula Bernasconi, detailing key findings and datasets including the latest Trase beef and Trase emissions data alongside our new Floresta 250 - Cattle assessments, and our finance sector roadmap.This podcast is a recording from the official Blue Zone press conference we held at COP30 in Belém.

Since 2014, Forest 500 has assessed the companies and financial institutions most exposed to deforestation risk through their supply chains and investments on the strength and implementation of their commitments on deforestation and human rights. In a pivotal year for climate and nature, Global Canopy’s 11th annual Forest 500 report reveals new data on the most influential companies in the deforestation economy. This podcast is taken from our skillshare webinar that explores how journalists and researchers use the data to identify the key actors driving deforestation and how the Forest 500 screening tool allows users to search the deforestation exposure risk of the most influential companies and financial institutions.You'll hear from:Rob Soutar, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (moderator)Emma Thomson, Forest 500 and Tracking Lead, Global CanopyKatalin Csatadi, Writer/Researcher, Ethical ConsumerHeather Clancy, VP, Editor at Large, Trellis GroupAnd for more information and a deeper dive into the data head to our website www.forest500.org

Floresta 250 – Pecuária, relatório que apresenta o novo conjunto de dados da Global Canopy, revela que grandes empresas e instituições financeiras estão falhando na definição e implementação de políticas de combate ao desmatamento relacionado às suas cadeias de suprimentos. A pecuária é a atividade que mais causa desmatamento no mundo, e o Brasil é o país responsável por quase 60% do desmatamento global causado por pastagens. O relatório avalia as 175 empresas e 75 instituições financeiras com maior influência no desmatamento impulsionado pelas cadeias de suprimentos da pecuária no Brasil. Ele avalia as organizações com base na robustez e implementação de seus compromissos sobre desmatamento, conversão de ecossistemas e abusos de direitos humanos associados. Este podcast é a versão editada em áudio do webinário de lançamento que revelou os principais achados da avaliação de base do Floresta 250, realizado em dezembro de 2024. Moderado por Cinthia Leone, do Climainfo, você também ouvirá:Isadora Carvalho, Líder de Engajamento Financeiro Sustentável da Global Canopy; Raoni Rajão, Diretor de Políticas de Controle do Desmatamento e Queimadas do Ministério do Meio Ambiente e Mudança do Clima; Jaciele Davi, Analista Sênior de Conservação do WWF-Brasil e Alice Thuault, Diretora Executiva do ICV.

Floresta 250 – Cattle, a new Global Canopy dataset, reveals major companies and financial institutions are failing to set and implement policies to tackle deforestation linked to cattle supply chains in Brazil.Cattle is the biggest agricultural driver of deforestation globally and Brazil is responsible for nearly 60% of global pasture-driven deforestation.Floresta 250 - Cattle assesses the key players in cattle supply chains driving deforestation in Brazil. 175 companies and 75 financial institutions are assessed on the strength and implementation of their commitments on deforestation, ecosystem conversion and associated human rights abuses. This podcast is taken from the launch webinar unveiling the baseline findings of the Floresta 250. Moderated by Cinthia Leone from Climainfo, you will also hear from Isadora Carvalho, Global Canopy’s Sustainable Finance Engagement Lead, Raoni Rajão, Director of Deforestation and Fire Control Policies at Brazil’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, Jaciele Davi, Senior Conservation Analyst at WWF-Brasil and Alice Thuault, Executive Director at ICV.

Deforestation is intrinsically linked to human rights abuses. The agricultural expansion that drives over 90% of the destruction also impacts the 1.6 billion people who rely on tropical forests for their lives and livelihoods. This podcast covers the launch of the latest Forest 500 human rights briefing called: The human rights blindspot on deforestation action. The latest data shows just 1% of the companies most exposed to deforestation have a policy that covers all of the human rights aspects that their commodities are exposed to.The podcast focuses on free, prior and informed consent - or FPIC - one of the key human rights linked to deforestation.You'll hear from:Yula Rocha - Indigenous and Climate Projects Manager, People’s Palace ProjectsAdriana Ramos - Public Policies specialist at Instituto Socioambiental (ISA)Cathal Doyle - Co-ordinator, Legal and Human Rights Programme, Forest Peoples ProgrammeEmma Thomson, Forest 500 and Tracking Lead, Global CanopyGiulia Bondi​​​​, EU Senior Campaigner, Global Witness 

For 10 years Global Canopy has been publishing its Forest 500 report, assessing the deforestation record of the 350 companies and 150 financial institutions most exposed to tropical deforestation. In this podcast - to mark the launch of the tenth report - you'll hear about the 10 lessons that can drive real deforestation change.Ten years has seen the collection of 1.3 million data points that are used to assess the strength and implementation of the 500's publicly available deforestation, ecosystem conversion and human rights commitments and policies. In this podcast, the Independent's senior climate correspondent Louise Boyle is joined by Giulia Carbone, Director of Natural Climate Solutions at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development,  Grace Iara, Lead convenor of the Alliance for the Amazon, Global Canopy Executive Director Niki Mardas and Pierre Cannet, Global Head of Public Affairs and Policy at Client Earth.Learn more and read the report at www.forest500.org

Forest IQ is a powerful new data platform for financial institutions that for the first time brings together aligned, best-in-class, and actionable data on how more than 2,000 major companies are addressing their links to deforestation.This podcast is taken from the launch event and explores how the platform can enable financial institutions to easily screen portfolios, engage with the most relevant companies, manage deforestation risks and achieve their climate and nature targets. There is no way to meet net-zero targets without an end to deforestation and its launch comes at a time of growing policy and compliance pressure on the finance sector to act.You'll hear from Global Canopy's Executive Director Niki Mardas introducing Forest IQ, before a panel discussion led  by - Danielle Carreira from the World Economic Forum, questioning Tim Steinweg from the PRI, Emily McKenzie from the TNFD, Eugenie Mathieu from Aviva Investors and Gemma Corrigan from Federated Hermes.

Traders will struggle to prove that soy from Brazil complies with its environmental laws due to gaps in official data, according to new analysis by Trase and Instituto Centro de Vida (ICV).  If it can't be proved that soy complies with national environmental regulations, this will impact international trade, especially to the EU because of the requirements made by the new EU Deforestation Regulation.In this podcast, Trase and Global Canopy's Andre Vasconcelos, details the findings of the study;  Andre Pereira Dias, the coordinator for geo-processing and environmental monitoring in the state of Mato Grosso outlines the data his state can offer; and Salima Kempenaer from the Federal Public Service for Public Health in Belgium, brings the perspective of an EU member state. The questions are asked by Jane Lino, from Proforest Brasil.