Know better. Do better.

This week, an explosive new report by the NGO Earthsight found that clothing factories supplying H&M and Zara are buying cotton linked to environmental destruction and land-grabbing in Brazil.

First reported by Context, the investigation calls into question the sustainability of cotton used by top global brands - even if it carries a label calling it sustainable.

Researchers traced thousands of shipment records between two cotton producers it said were linked to land-grabbing and illegal deforestation to Asian factories that supply finished garments to brands including H&M and Zara.

The impact of beef and soy in the Amazon are well-established, but this report I covered with Andre Cabette Fabio focused on another biodiversity hotspot you may not have heard of: the Cerrado.

Brazil's Cerrado is a tropical savannah larger than Mexico, and often known as the "upside-down forest" for its carbon-storing root systems reaching 15 metres (49 ft) deep into the ground. While efforts have been made to improve Amazon protections, deforestation alerts in the Cerrado jumped 44% in 2023.

Brazil has set its sights on becoming the largest exporter of cotton in the world, and output has been booming in the Cerrado - more vulnerable than the Amazon due its proximity to trading routes and weaker environmental rules.

It's also a key source of water for much of South America, but the spread of thirsty crops is threatening the water supplies of traditional communities and has driven them off grazing land they have used for generations, environmental researchers say.

Peasant farmer Adão Batista Gomes said his community used to freely graze their cattle amid the trees and rolling grassland, but that changed when farm employees first arrived in the 1980s.

"They told us the area belonged to the farm, that it was in the farm's map," he said. "Today it's all crops, everything was deforested."

So what can help solve these issues? Earthsight said ethical supply chain rules like the European Union's deforestation regulation need to be expanded and strengthened, and heavily criticised private sector efforts to reassure consumers, such as the Better Cotton used by H&M and Zara – both of which expressed concern over the NGO’s findings.

Others put more emphasis on stronger protections for nature and people on the ground in Brazil.

David Cleary, The Nature Conservancy's agriculture director, told me there are millions of hectares already cleared where agricultural productivity could be increased. The Cerrado has lost about half its natural vegetation to agriculture.

"There's an enormous amount of potential for different sorts of incentive schemes that can protect surviving vegetation in the Cerrado," he said.

As demand for cotton continues to grow worldwide, its pressures on nature are expected to do the same. Will the Cerrado pay the price for fast fashion?

See you next week,

Jack