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The report by Mighty Earth characterizes Cargill as a major contributor to global deforestation, climate change, and human rights violations. It details the company's role in destroying the Amazon and Gran Chaco ecosystems for soy production, the use of child labor in West African cocoa production, and significant pollution of air and water in the United States. The document highlights a pattern of 'misleading' corporate pledges by CEO David MacLennan, noting that the company often resists expanding sustainability protections to new regions like the Brazilian Cerrado. It specifically criticizes major clients such as Ahold Delhaize, McDonald's, and Sysco for continuing to support Cargill despite their own public sustainability commitments.

The report by Mighty Earth characterizes Cargill as a major contributor to global environmental and human rights crises. It details the company's role in the deforestation of the Amazon, Cerrado, and Gran Chaco for soy production, as well as illegal deforestation in West African national parks for cocoa. The document alleges systemic failures in Cargill's sustainability promises, citing continued use of child slave labor in cocoa harvests and severe water and air pollution in the United States. It concludes that corporate customers like McDonald's and Ahold Delhaize are complicit by continuing to source from Cargill despite the company's documented record of deception and ecological damage.

The report documents the link between European meat consumption and the destruction of the Gran Chaco ecosystem in Argentina and Paraguay. It highlights how major agribusiness traders, specifically Cargill and Bunge, facilitate the expansion of industrial soy monocultures, leading to illegal deforestation, biodiversity loss, and severe health impacts on local communities due to glyphosate use. The document argues that this destruction is avoidable through the use of degraded lands and the implementation of traceability systems similar to the Brazilian Soy Moratorium.

The report finds that despite commitments by the Retail Soy Group (RSG) to cease sourcing meat linked to deforestation after August 2020, major soy traders continue to purchase from suppliers engaged in land conversion in the Brazilian Cerrado. Analysis of 10 farms revealed at least 27,000 hectares of deforestation since the cut-off date, with Cargill identified as the poorest performer. The document argues that supermarkets are at risk of selling non-compliant products and calls for stricter enforcement of the 2020 cut-off date, improved traceability, and a shift toward alternative proteins.

The authors argue that non-violent direct action is more effective at undermining autocracies and significantly more likely to lead to democratic transitions than violent conflict. Using a multinomial logit model for the period 1900-2004, the study finds that non-violent campaigns substantially increase the probability of democratization, particularly when the state has a high proportion of democratic neighbors. Conversely, violent direct action is less effective at destabilizing regimes overall and makes transitions to new autocracies relatively more likely. The research suggests that non-violence promotes power dispersion and elite defection, whereas violence tends to centralize power and justify further repression.

The document analyzes the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in 13 Latin American countries, focusing on mainstreaming SDGs into national policies, operationalization, and social ownership. While most countries found aligning national priorities with SDGs relatively simple, they face significant hurdles in cross-sectoral coordination, long-term budgetary guarantees, and the inclusion of subnational governments and civil society. The report highlights diverse national strategies, ranging from Colombia's integration of SDGs into its national development plan to Mexico's alignment of over 400 budget indicators with SDG targets.

The document analyzes how the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated structural inequalities in Latin America, specifically affecting women's labor participation and health, the vulnerability of indigenous populations regarding food security and healthcare, and the slow integration of green jobs into economic recovery plans. It provides detailed case studies for Mexico, Chile, and Colombia, highlighting gaps in public spending and the need for intersectional policies, improved data collection, and a transition toward a sustainable, low-carbon economy that ensures decent work and social justice.

The case study argues that forests influence climate stability through biophysical processes—albedo, evapotranspiration, surface roughness, and aerosols—beyond the carbon cycle. In Chile, the loss of over 40% of forest cover, particularly the matorral in the central region, has likely contributed to local temperature increases and exacerbated the 'Mega Drought' (2010-2018). The authors propose enhancing Chile's Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), Long-Term Climate Strategy, and REDD+ frameworks by incorporating non-carbon cooling effects as performance indicators and targets. They also suggest expanding the ARClim risk assessment platform to include deforestation-induced warming to better prioritize adaptation measures in agriculture and public health.

The document argues that forests influence climate not only through carbon sequestration but also through biophysical processes—albedo, evapotranspiration, surface roughness, and aerosols—which affect temperature and precipitation. In Chile, the conversion of native vegetation to crops and pastures has been linked to local surface temperature increases of up to 4°C. The authors suggest that Chile can enhance its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), Long-Term Climate Strategy, and REDD+ strategies by incorporating these non-carbon effects as performance indicators and adaptation goals. Specifically, they recommend prioritizing native species over exotic plantations to maximize cooling effects and utilizing the ARClim digital platform to identify areas at risk of non-carbon warming.

The report examines the non-carbon biophysical effects of forests—albedo, evapotranspiration, surface roughness, and aerosols—and their impact on local and global temperatures and precipitation. Using Chile as a case study, it highlights how deforestation of native vegetation, such as the matorral, has contributed to local surface temperature increases. The document proposes specific policy enhancements for Chile, including adjusting its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to favor native species over exotic plantations, expanding the ARClim risk assessment platform, and incorporating biophysical indicators into the National Strategy for Climate Change and Plant Resources (ENCCRV). It suggests that Chile's approach can serve as a model for other UNFCCC parties to recognize deforestation as a climate hazard beyond carbon emissions.

The report contends that carbon markets focus exclusively on greenhouse gas emissions, failing to account for biophysical processes—such as evapotranspiration and albedo—that make tropical forests critical for cooling the planet. This omission leads to overly conservative credit valuations for tropical nations and indigenous communities, while potentially overvaluing credits from higher latitudes. The authors suggest integrating these biophysical benefits as premium attributes or CO2 equivalents to ensure a just transition and better incentivize large-scale forest conservation.

The research paper contends that carbon markets focus exclusively on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and removals, failing to account for the biophysical processes of tropical forests—such as evapotranspiration and albedo—that contribute significantly to global cooling. This omission leads to overly conservative crediting for tropical regions and an underestimation of their mitigation potential, which the authors estimate could provide an additional 1.4 to 1.8 gigatons of CO2-equivalent annual mitigation. The paper also highlights the concept of 'positive biophysical leakage,' where protecting forests enhances the resilience of surrounding landscapes against wildfire and drought. To address these inequities, the authors recommend that norm-setting bodies balance risk assessments, allow for premium pricing based on non-carbon attributes, and work toward quantifying biophysical effects as CO2 equivalents.

The report contends that carbon markets focus exclusively on greenhouse gas emissions, ignoring four key biophysical processes—albedo, evapotranspiration, surface roughness, and aerosols—that allow tropical forests to cool the planet. This omission leads to a significant underestimation of the climate mitigation potential of tropical forests, which the authors claim contribute 50% more to global warming prevention than carbon alone. The document highlights that conservative risk-management standards (such as additionality and leakage tests) further penalize tropical forest credits, particularly in High Forest Low Deforestation (HFLD) countries. It proposes that these non-carbon benefits be treated as additional attributes for pricing or eventually quantified as CO2 equivalents to ensure a more equitable transition for indigenous peoples and local communities.

The report contends that carbon markets focus exclusively on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, failing to account for four key biophysical processes—albedo, evapotranspiration, surface roughness, and aerosols—that allow tropical forests to cool the planet. This omission leads to an underestimation of the mitigation potential of tropical forests, which could provide an additional 1.4 to 1.8 gigatonnes of CO2-equivalent mitigation per year. The authors argue that this creates an inequitable system that penalizes tropical nations and indigenous communities while overvaluing forests in higher latitudes. To correct this, the document recommends incorporating biophysical effects as additional credit attributes, recognizing 'positive biophysical leakage' that enhances landscape resilience, and developing long-term methods to quantify these benefits as CO2 equivalents.

The document outlines how forests influence climate stability through four non-carbon biophysical processes: albedo, evapotranspiration, surface roughness, and aerosols. It argues that ignoring these effects leads to an undervaluation of tropical forests, as tropical deforestation contributes 50 percent more to global warming than carbon-only metrics suggest. The authors propose six specific mechanisms for UNFCCC Parties to integrate these effects into official processes, including GHG inventories, Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), REDD+ reporting, National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), the Global Stocktake, and the IPCC's 7th Assessment Report cycle.

The policy brief highlights that forests influence the climate through four key non-carbon biophysical processes: albedo, evapotranspiration, surface roughness, and aerosols. It argues that focusing solely on carbon underestimates the cooling value of tropical forests and ignores local temperature spikes caused by deforestation. The authors propose six specific ways for UNFCCC Parties to integrate these effects into national greenhouse gas inventories, Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), REDD+ reporting, adaptation planning, the Global Stocktake, and the IPCC's Seventh Assessment Report (AR7).

The briefing explains how forests influence climate through non-carbon biophysical processes—albedo, evapotranspiration, surface roughness, and aerosols—and proposes six specific mechanisms for the UNFCCC to integrate these effects into national reporting, NDCs, REDD+, adaptation planning, the Global Stocktake, and IPCC assessments.

The document highlights that tropical deforestation contributes 50% more to global warming than carbon emissions alone when biophysical effects are included. These effects—albedo, evapotranspiration, surface roughness, and aerosols—regulate local temperatures and regional rainfall. Deforestation disrupts these processes, leading to decreased crop yields (e.g., a 12% drop in soy productivity in Brazil) and increased heat stress for workers. The authors urge companies and investors to move beyond reputational goals and address these material risks through jurisdictional collaboration, improved spatial analysis, and stricter financial disclosures.

The document highlights that tropical deforestation contributes 50% more to global warming than carbon emissions alone due to biophysical processes like albedo, evapotranspiration, surface roughness, and aerosols. These non-carbon effects cause local temperature spikes and regional rainfall disruptions, leading to direct productivity losses in commodities such as soy and impacting worker safety through heat stress. It calls on companies and financial institutions to move beyond reputational risk management and address these material operational risks through jurisdictional cooperation, improved spatial research, and stricter portfolio alignment.

Initiative 20x20 is a regional partnership in Latin America and the Caribbean designed to restore degraded landscapes through reforestation, agroforestry, and silvopasture. The initiative has surpassed its initial goal of 20 million hectares and has earmarked US$2.4 billion for project financing. The program addresses the fact that at least 200 million hectares of land in the region are severely degraded and that 49% of regional emissions stem from land-use change, forestry, and agriculture.