Brazil - Green Prophet

140 companies bought dubious carbon credits from Brazil; BlackRock, Deloitte, and Phillip Morris among them

Karin Kloosterman — Sat, 07 Mar 2026 17:54:31 +0000

A Brazil rainforest could store carbon

Consulting giants EY, BCG, KPMG and Deloitte relied on the offsets, raising concerns about how corporate climate claims are being verified.

All the more reason to hire an in-house sustainability agent who understands carbon credits and sustainability. An investigation published today in the Wall Street Journal reveals that more than 140 corporations were allowed to claim carbon offsets credits from one of the world’s largest projects hosted by Verra in Brazil, despite the fact that the project was under investigation for claims regarding its legitimacy.

Corporations such as BlackRock, Mastercard, and Phillip Morris International were allowed to retire and count these credits towards their emissions-reducing activities while the project was suspended. Evidence suggests that the project may have been illegitimate from its establishment, due to claims that it was located on public lands where it did not have a legal right to operate.

The Panatal in Brazil via National Geographic

Additional research by Corporate Accountability released today reveals that over 70% of all carbon credits recently retired in Brazil are “problematic” and cannot be counted on to deliver their promised emissions reductions. If you are filing shareholder reports for ESG activities which include Brazil, dig deeper.

The researchers examined the top 50 carbon offset projects in Brazil between January 2024 and June 2025 — which are also among the largest projects globally — and found that millions of these problematic offsets were retired by multinational corporations and counted towards their emissions reductions despite not being likely to deliver.

“Carbon offsets have failed to lead to a decrease in global greenhouse gas emissions,” said Rachel Rose Jackson, Director of Climate Research and Policy at Corporate Accountability.

“Meanwhile, the claims of harm to communities and ecosystems caused by these projects continue to pile up. Yet again, the evidence suggests that those promoting and profiting off these projects cannot be counted on to help protect the planet. With life at stake, who is liable for the continued failures of these projects and the carbon market more broadly? And how many more times do we need to see evidence of their failure before we reorient towards more meaningful and proven solutions that reduce emissions and keep fossil fuels in the ground?”

The research in the new report from Corporate Accountability shows that 32 of the top 50 carbon offsets projects in Brazil are unlikely to reduce emissions. These projects retired 15.7 million carbon offsets credits between January 2024 and June 2025. This means that a substantial portion of the offsets from these projects that corporations were counting towards their emissions reductions were likely doing little to nothing to reduce emissions.

All of this while communities around the world face worsening floods, droughts, and extreme weather — as well as systemic violence fueled and enabled by some of the world’s largest corporate polluters in places like Palestine, Sudan, Venezuela, Iran and elsewhere.

Verra, the world’s largest carbon credit certifier, hosts 23 of the 32 problematic projects in Brazil, which accounts for 12.8 million carbon offsets credits retired between January 2024 and June 2025. Despite promises of reform amidst repeated integrity concerns, Verra appears to continue to host projects that are not proven to deliver real and lasting emissions reductions, says Corporate Accountability.

The Clean Development Mechanism hosts the remaining nine problematic projects, accounting for 2.9 million offsets retired during this period. The Clean Development Mechanism has a history of hosting projects that lack real emissions reductions and has been estimated to actually increase global emissions by 6.1 billion tons of carbon dioxide through approval of empty offsets, according to Corporate Accountability.

Corporate Accountability’s research also revealed that many major international corporations across sectors have retired offsets from these problematic Brazil-based projects. Petrobras retired nearly 200,000 credits from these problematic projects during the research period. Shell retired approximately 66,500 credits, and Equinor nearly 21,000. BlackRock retired 137,000 problematic credits from these projects.

Consulting firms also made significant use of these questionable offsets. EY retired nearly 179,000 credits from problematic Brazil projects. BCG retired around 90,000 credits. KPMG and Deloitte each retired around 5,500 credits. Other corporations using these problematic offsets include Barilla, Philip Morris, Uber, SWIFT, Mastercard, S&P Global, Engie, Yamaha Motor, and Dell.

The voluntary carbon market is predicted to grow significantly in coming years. Climate advocates, academics, communities, and experts are calling for immediate action to reverse the harms and failures of the carbon market, and to course-correct to real solutions that will put us on a proven pathway to Real Zero emissions.

Carlos Augusto Pantoja Ramos, a forestry engineer and PhD student at the Amazonian Institute of Family Agriculture at the Federal University of Pará in Brazil, has worked extensively with communities impacted by carbon offsets projects. He explained that it is not the communities near projects like Pacajaí that have benefitted from these projects.

“The attempt to capture public and common goods, such as land, by projects such as Pacajaí can intensify the concentration of income in the hands of a few corporations and institutional investors, deepening the severe social inequality in regions like the Amazon. This reveals disproportionate gain relationships between the parties involved, many of whom lack the structure and/or technical knowledge to assert their rights.”

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Nature as Capital at COP30 and how blended finance and debt-for-nature swaps work

Karin Kloosterman — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 09:05:14 +0000

Jubail mangrove wal in Abu Dhabi

Belém’s COP30 puts forests, freshwater and oceans at center stage. How are emerging markets treating nature as infrastructure— and plugging it into finance and trade. We know that the world has reached the coral tipping point, and as you are busy saving the trees and oceans, know how activists, locals, banks and business can work together. Learn the lingo of finance mechanisms to help save the planet.

Everyone will cover the headlines from the United Nation’s climate conference, this year called COP30 and which is in Belém, Brazil. Fewer will explain the mechanics of how nature becomes cashflow, trade leverage and resilience infrastructure—especially for the Global South. That’s the gap we’re filling. Green Prophet offers a practical question: what instruments exist right now to turn living systems into value chains that stand up to droughts, floods and supply-chain shocks? And how can MENA, Africa and Latin America lead instead of only react.

Know your terminology if you want to follow the conversations in the room

Blended Finance

Econcrete restores coastal habitats with low-cost concrete that mimics a natural shoreline.

Blended finance is the engine room. Public and philanthropic “first-loss” capital de-risks deals; commercial investors come in behind. The aim is to move beyond pilot projects into pipelines that pay for restoration at scale. The World Bank’s recent review shows a surprising depth of activity in nature-based infrastructure, with millions of people already benefiting from coastal and watershed projects that reduce disaster risk while growing local economies.

Let’s take an example we can get behind: Imagine there is huge project to fix a coastline that’s getting destroyed by storms over and over again. We know that planting mangrove trees and building natural barriers to protect homes and schools works. But who pays for this, especially in developing nations like Thailand, where government money might be tight, especially on small islands.

Thailand’s, and Saudi Arabian mangrove forests can help mitigate climate change by keeping rising tides and storms at bay

The problem is that it costs a lot to plant and maintain mangrove trees and natural barriers, and even less natural ones like the ones built by Eco-Concrete in costal areas of New York. There is a lot of good reasons why protecting coastlines are good: tourism, business and stability to invest in a region pay off in the long term.

So how does blended finance work? Big investors might not build a university or a business center in an at-risk area like Indonesia because its islands are at-risk from flooding. They watch as government and charities go first to build pilot projects. These groups take the first losses and are buffered to do so. When investors see a project or pilot is working, the investors and banks can join in.

The end result is that if it’s a project on island resilience, and it’s done well with the local community, the fishermen get more fish, the houses and infrastructure don’t flood, and tourism and businesses in the area improve. Now instead of the government or local municipality working to clean up new disasters as they happen, the community and investors protect a community and its economy.

Where this is doing well:
Indonesia: planting mangroves to protect coasts and create jobs, in Kenya where they are restoring forests to secure water for cities and farms and in Colombia, where they are rebuilding riversides to stop floods and boost tourism. The World Bank found millions of people already benefiting from nature-based projects like these. They’re not just experiments — but are becoming real business pipelines.

Debt for Nature Swaps

Debt-for-nature swaps are also keywords you will hear coming out of COP30 and debt-for-nature is having a moment. By refinancing sovereign debt of a nation and locking savings into conservation endowments, countries can protect mangroves, reefs and forests while improving fiscal stability.

The Bahamas’ swap—backed by private guarantees and insurers—unlocked roughly $124 million for ocean protection and mangrove recovery. Expect more hybrids like “blue bonds,” watershed bonds, and biodiversity-linked notes as COP30 pushes nature up the finance agenda.

Canada is beginning to explore similar nature-finance mechanisms. They are offering grants for businesses that support climate change initiatives. While small island nations pioneered debt-for-nature swaps, the logic applies anywhere natural assets protect economies. Take the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes Basin. This is a freshwater system worth trillions in trade, shipping, drinking water, hydropower, and fisheries — yet it faces rising storm surges, coastal erosion, surges in algae blooms, and biodiversity loss.

Imagine a Canadian “watershed bond” modelled on the Bahamas’ blue bond play: federal and provincial governments refinance aging municipal debt in water-adjacent cities like Toronto beaches, Kingston, Thunder Bay, and Windsor. Interest savings are then routed into a protected watershed fund to restore wetlands, rebuild fish nurseries, and reinforce natural floodplains that protect ports and neighborhoods.

Who backs it? Pension funds like CPP Investments, insurers hedging climate risk, and Indigenous-led stewardship trusts that secure long-term governance. Satellite and LiDAR data verify improved water quality, carbon storage, and flood protection — giving investors confidence that nature isn’t just a moral win, but a balance-sheet asset.

Nature Markets

Circle farming in Holland uses AI and nature together.

Nature markets are growing up fast — and not just carbon trading. Investors and governments are starting to put real contracts behind things like restoring habitats, protecting species, and improving fisheries. In the past, these ideas lived in Canva or PowerPoint presentations and pilot projects that didn’t go far beyond the anecdote stage. Today, they’re showing up in legal agreements, budgets, and deal pipelines.

What changed? Measurement tech and startups working in the impact space. We can now track how many fish return to a reef, how much flood damage is avoided when wetlands are restored, or how many species come back when forests regrow. When you can measure nature’s value, you can finance it. Also, investors found that impact companies can return significantly higher returns on investment.

The early winners will be projects that do more than one thing: reduce carbon, protect coasts, boost fishing incomes, create jobs, and improve water security. In short, projects and companies that score high in ESG. Instead of selling just one benefit, they’ll earn money from many revenue streams. The future natural economy isn’t supposed to be about charity — it’s revenue, resilience, and concepts like regenerative agriculture working together.

What to watch at COP30

A Brazil rainforest

Belém in Brazil may be remembered as the summit where nature moved from a side-event to system change. If you are there at the event, Look for bigger blended-finance vehicles for forests and watersheds, standardized biodiversity/ecosystem credit frameworks, clearer guidance on how trade tools like CBAM and deforestation-free rules interact with development and equity goals, and concrete deals in the Amazon and beyond that link restoration to export growth.

Media attention will swirl around politics, but the durable story is finance and how data can turn ecosystems, including jungles and seashore towns, into resilient value-chains.

Explore related coverage on Green Prophet

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Amazon deforestation is killing the lungs of the earth

Isabella Hannah — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 08:41:42 +0000

Deforestation in the Amazon is causing fewer storms

For the first time scientists have determined that due to the ongoing deforestation in the Amazon basin in recent decades, the number of thunderstorms and rain in the region has decreased significantly, and the area over which they occur has shrunk.

This is opposite to what happens in other places, says climate change expert Colin Price: “In most areas of the world, global warming has resulted in an increase in the number of thunderstorms, but in this study we discovered that precisely in those areas where deforestation has increased the number of storms actually decreased, even with rising temperatures,” he says.

These findings are worrying because a decrease in the amount of storms leads to a decrease in the amount of rain, which in turn causes further damage to the forests. This is a dangerous feedback loop, which could severely damage the forests that provide the earth with a significant portion of the oxygen in the atmosphere and absorb a large portion of the carbon dioxide emitted by us into the atmosphere.”

The research was led by Prof. Colin Price and graduate student Raam Beckenshtein at Tel Aviv University in Israel. The research was published in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society.

What’s happening here? Price who has studied weather events and climate change for decades, postulates: “The Amazon tropical rainforests are the largest in the world and play a critical role in regulating the earth’s climate. These forests are often called ‘the lungs of the earth’, because through the process of photosynthesis the forests produce a significant portion of the oxygen in the atmosphere and absorb a large amount of its carbon dioxide – a greenhouse gas that makes a significant contribution to climate change.”

Cutting down the rainmakers

The rainforests themselves produce their own rain,” says Price. “The trees emit water vapor via evaporation into the air that eventually condenses and forms clouds and rain above the rainforests. The forests influence the local and regional rainfall.”

The researchers point out that these important processes are currently in danger due to the extensive activity of deforestation in the Amazon, from cutting down trees for wood and clearing areas for agriculture, infrastructure development, and mining.

In the 30 years between 1990 and 2020, forests whose total area is larger than the entire continent of Europe were destroyed in the Amazon basin. To sum up: the destruction of rainforests impacts global oxygen levels, while increasing the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and disrupts natural rainfall patterns that may lead to further drought in some areas. In addition, the trees that have been cut down are often burned, releasing additional carbon dioxide into the air and contributing to global warming.

In this study the researchers tracked changes in thunderstorms in the Amazon basin in recent decades using a variety of mapping and tracking technologies.

“We expected to find an increase in the number of storms due to global warming, as has been observed in many regions of the world, but to our surprise we found the opposite trend: a decrease of 8% over 40 years.

“Further analysis revealed that most of the decrease was observed precisely in those areas where the rainforests were replaced by agriculture or other human activity. The decrease can be explained by the fact that the absence of the forests significantly reduced the moisture in the air, which is the source of energy and moisture needed for the formation of thunderstorms.

“The result is fewer thunderstorms, fewer clouds, less rain, and consequently less growth of the forest. This creates a dangerous feedback loop that can cause the forests to dry out and significantly reduce the vital contribution of the ‘Lungs of the Earth’ to oxygen production and carbon dioxide absorption.”

Where is the Amazon Forest and how can you help?

The Amazon is a vast biome that spans eight rapidly developing countries—Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, and Suriname—and French Guiana, an overseas territory of France.

Take deforestation from your diet

Many of the foods we eat are grown on land cleared for beef and soy and palm oil. Eat less beef, palm and soy and it will help.

Buy Amazon Land for preservation

Find a local group near you pooling funds to buy Amazon forests that can be reserved for preservation.

Find ways to support indigenous people

Decision makers and corporations create the fate for the Amazon. Support local people and help them develop sustainable incomes that don’t require slashing and burning the lungs of the planet.

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Oil drilling near the Great Amazon Reef System would wipe out mangroves

Karin Kloosterman — Sun, 23 Jul 2023 11:47:10 +0000

Mangrove forest in the Amazon

The world is up in arms about the new frontier in mining – deep sea mining for minerals like lithium and gold from virgin seafloors around the world. Prospectors say that the growth of electric cars has left us no choice as the batteries need lithium and other rare metals to function. But mining for oil at sea has been ongoing for decades. Offshore drilling began in America in the 1880s and the damage of oil exploration at sea is only too well known after great oil spills.

Now a Brazilian petrochemical company called Petrobras wants to drill exploratory oil wells in the ocean near the mouth of the Amazon. Scientists worry if the plan gets approved, inevitable oil leaks could damage nearby ecosystems, including a vast reef system and the second-largest mangrove forest in the world. Little is known about the reef, so “a comprehensive evaluation of the risks from oil and gas exploitation is currently impossible”, says marine ecologist Rodrigo de Moura in a new Nature article.

His colleague concurs: “There’s a palpable risk of an oil spill if activities proceed — the fact it is an exploratory well for studying the region’s potential for deep-sea oil doesn’t exempt it from accidents,” says Carlos Rezende, a marine biologist at the State University of Northern Rio de Janeiro in Campos dos Goytacazes, Brazil.

In defense, Petrobras said it will not be endangering delicate ecosystems, “there is no record of any nearby conservation units, nor is it located near rivers, lakes, floodplains or reef systems” they wrote, but the scientists familiar with the region know that the Great Amazon Reef System is only about 40 miles away and any oil spill or leakage will easily travel that distance.

Source: Nature

Studies suggest that the reef that the reef somewhere between 9,500 and 56,000 square kilometers across the mouth of the Amazon River. When it was first described by scientists in the 1970s, the researchers then did not observe any impressive range of biodiversity. But recent studies found an ecosystem with corals, sponges and fish.

“It is huge, and it is sensitive,” says Ronaldo Francini-Filho, a marine ecosystems researcher at the University of São Paulo in Brazil. “And we don’t know even 5% of what’s down there.”

Brazil has other megaprojects in the Amazon region that are under debate including the repaving of a highway that would pass through a preserved rainforest, the construction of a major railway for grain transport and the renewal of a giant hydroelectric dam’s license. Countries in South America were easy to exploit in the past but with environmental awakening and the understanding of a country’s need to protect their assets, citizens are expecting more from their leaders who will need to make tough decisions.

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Animal Abuse Horrific for Livestock Sent from West to Middle East Ports

Joseph Mayton — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 07:04:24 +0000

Live export controversy hits Middle East with full force: Australia may be merciful when raising its cattle at home. That all changes once they head to the Middle East market.

Animals and animal rights are not top on any agenda in the Middle East, but in 2012, a number of incidents brought the controversial live export trade to the forefront of environmental and animal treatment in the region. First with Egypt, then with Bahrain and as a result, Pakistan. The deaths of tens of thousands of cows being transported from both Brazil and Australia to the region have once again put the controversial live export industry in the spotlight. 2012 was not a good year for animals in the region. Read on.

Earlier this year, some 30,000 cows died on a ship destined for Egypt after the Egyptian government refused to allow the ship to dock at a Red Sea port. They were slaughtered as a “precaution,” the ministry said.

Animals Australia, the leading organization reporting on the controversial live export trade to the Middle East and Southeast Asia, said the incident was among the worst the industry had witnessed in years.

Animals Australia’s Campaign Director, Lyn White, said in a statement that the ship was anchored at sea after being refused port in a number of countries in the region, including Egypt, where the cattle were supposed to be offloaded.

It’s understood that ventilation problems on the converted livestock vessel, the MV Gracia Del Mar, had caused the deaths of more than half of the animals on board since the ship left South America for Egypt a few weeks ago.

The ship was anchored in the Red Sea for weeks and saw more animals perish as a result.

“This is nothing short of an animal welfare disaster. If remaining cattle are not offloaded more of these animals will suffer appalling deaths at sea. We are appealing to authorities in Egypt to offload the remaining cattle at al-Sohkna, as was originally intended.

“This disaster is just another example of the inherent risks of transporting animals by sea. It was only nine years ago that 5,000 Australian sheep perished on board the MV Cormo Express after country after country refused to allow it to berth.

“And this isn’t the first time that mechanical issues have caused mass deaths on live export ships. We only need to look to the breakdown of the Al Messilah in Adelaide last year. Had that vessel broken down on the open ocean it would have caused a similar welfare catastrophe — as thousands of animals would have died.

“Australia also exports cattle to Al Sohkna Livestock company in Egypt. Whilst we have an MoU with Egypt which should ensure the offloading of our animals, it has never been put to the test. The Egyptians thus far have flatly refused to allow the MV Gracia Del Mar to dock despite the mass suffering of the animals on board.

“If they continue to refuse to allow the surviving animals to be unloaded it would provide little confidence that the non-binding agreement with Australia would be honoured if a similar incident were to occur on an Australian livestock ship.

“It should not matter if these cattle aren’t Australian and if Brazil doesn’t have a similar piece of paper, they should not be abandoned to suffer and die at sea. We are appealing to Egyptian authorities to offload these cattle as a matter of urgency.”

Bahrain helped to bring another tragedy to the forefront of international animal-related media after they refused to allow a ship carrying some 20,000 sheep to dock on its shores, forcing the vessel to Pakistan. The sheep fared even worse upon arrival in Pakistan.

Pakistan tried to bury sheep alive

Four Corners revealed that the sheep had survived the Pakistani government’s attempts to bury the animals alive.

“His fleece matted with blood and dirt — a reminder of the brutal mass slaughter he had lived through the night before,” Animals Australia said in a press release on the horror.

Animal abuse as “entertainment” in Gaza:

“Perhaps more than any other live export disaster (and there have been many), the horrific sight of frightened animals being chased, beaten, stabbed, and then thrown mercilessly into trenches (many while still alive), shatters any belief that Australia can maintain control over the fate of live animals once exported from our shores,” added Animals Australia in a statement to its supporters.

The video expose is another shocking reminder of the horrific conditions animals are placed in as part of the live export industry, of which Australia is a leader.

But a positive for many animal rights activists is the decline in Australia’s live sheep exports over the past decade.

In 2010, three million sheep were exported compared with 6.3 million in 2001.

Australia’s government last year was to see a bill that would have banned live export to the world, but industry lobbyists fought back and forced the legislation off the table in a move that angered animal activists in the country and across the world, notably the Islamic world, which receives the lion’s share of live cattle and sheep from both Australia and Brazil.

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The World’s Coolest Beekeeper’s Helper is a Donkey in Brazil

Tafline Laylin — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 21:51:06 +0000

It might seem like I haven’t picked up an atlas in a while since Green Prophet is devoted to Middle Eastern issues, but this story about a Brazilian beekeeper and his appropriately-suited helper was just too sweet not to share.

After all, donkeys are essential to thousands of residents from Morocco to Yemen, and beekeepers from Lebanon to Turkey who keep vulnerable bee populations from descending into total collapse might benefit from this inspiring tale in the semi-desert region of Caatinga, Brazil.

Manuel Juraci is one of 120 beekeepers in Itatira, Ceará who produce massive quantities of honey each year. This is an excellent trade for one of the world’s poorest regions, though it’s difficult to get ahead.

But Juraci has a special tool that makes him one of the most competitive of all beekeepers: a donkey.

Outfitted in a custom suit designed by Juraci that keeps him safe from bee stings, Boneco the trusted donkey transports the honey that Juraci collects down to the marketplace.

This team work ensures a greater carrying capacity than other beekeepers can have, and the Association of Honey Producers is keen to commission more donkey beekeeping suits from their designer.

And that might help, but Juraci insists that the secret behind their success can’t be attributed to the suit. It’s the donkey’s friendship and loyalty that matters the most.

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