Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Carbon credits · Brazil · 2022

Marfrig co-founded Biomas, a Brazilian forest-restoration company

Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Not on record
  • The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
What the record lacks: 1 none on record · 4 insufficient · 1 not measured See the gaps

Marfrig is one of six companies that founded Biomas in 2022 to restore and conserve 4 million hectares of Brazilian forest, under a model based on selling carbon credits. Reports that Marfrig bought cattle from deforested land with bond money are not verified in the sources reviewed.

What?
Marfrig is one of six companies that founded Biomas, a carbon-credit forest-restoration company announced in November 2022. Vale
Where?
Brazil Vale
When?
Announced November 2022 at COP27; 20-year target Vale
Who?
Gained
  • Biomas founders (Vale, Itaú Unibanco, Marfrig, Rabobank, Santander, Suzano) — Carbon-credit sales under the Biomas model Vale
Lost
None on record
Harmed
None on record
Why?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
How?
Six companies each committed R$20 million to Biomas, which plans to sell carbon credits from restoration and conservation. Vale
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

Vale, Itaú Unibanco, Marfrig, Rabobank, Santander and Suzano announced Biomas at COP27 in November 2022, a company to restore, conserve and preserve 4 million hectares of Brazilian forest over 20 years, Vale's market notice said.

Each partner initially committed R$20 million, and the model is based on selling carbon credits, according to the same notice.

    In court and with insurers

    Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

    Lawsuits and rulings

    No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.

    Insurers

    No insurer decision on record.

    What we don't know

    Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.

    Nature

    • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.

    Record

    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: Marfrig used bond money to buy cattle from a ranch linked to its board chair, which Mongabay reported in September 2025 citing Brazilian prosecutors.
    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: the same report said 195 hectares on that farm were embargoed by IBAMA.
    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: BankTrack, citing Global Witness, lists 89 supplier ranches with more than 3,300 hectares of illegal deforestation between 2017 and 2019.
    • None on record The sources reviewed do not state the amount or terms of any Marfrig bond, or Marfrig's response to the reports.
    • Insufficient The 2025 details and current leadership of Biomas come from press reports and are not verified; Biomas's official website was not reachable.

    Did the harm stop?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Who paid?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Sources

    Voices on record: ✓ Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts— Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers

    Company or project

    Connected cases

    Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
    Terms used on this page

    Science and environment

    Hectare (ha)
    A unit of area equal to 10,000 square metres, about 2.5 acres. 100 hectares make one square kilometre.

    Carbon and conservation finance

    Carbon credit
    A certificate representing one tonne of carbon dioxide (or equivalent) that a project says it reduced, avoided or removed. Buyers use credits to balance their own emissions in climate claims.

    Places and local terms

    Renova Foundation
    The foundation set up after the 2015 Mariana dam collapse to carry out repairs and compensation on behalf of Samarco and its owners.
    Similar cases
    Carbon credits · United States · 2005–2026
    Edelman: API contract, Energy Citizens and the COP30 contract
    Same type: Carbon creditsSame countryHarm to nature not measured
    Carbon credits · Tree planting · Brazil · 2024
    Microsoft forestry carbon deals and the Apple Restore Fund
    Same type: Carbon creditsSame countryHarm to nature not measured
    Carbon credits · Brazil · 2023–2026
    Pará forest carbon credit schemes face suspension and lawsuits
    Same type: Carbon creditsSame countryHarm to nature not measured
    Carbon credits · Brazil · 2023–2026
    Pará state pre-sold 12 million REDD+ credits; federal prosecutors sue to cancel
    Same type: Carbon creditsSame countryHarm to nature not measured
    Carbon credits · Brazil · 2025–2026
    Brazilian court fines Sigma Lithium over blast damage in Jequitinhonha valley
    Same type: Carbon creditsSame countryHarm to nature not measured
    Carbon credits · Brazil · 2005–2025
    Indigenous land registration cut Amazon deforestation; recent Brazilian rulings reverse course
    Same type: Carbon creditsSame countryHarm to nature not measured