Is rainforest cleared to feed Danish pigs?

Nobody can say precisely: soy-driven clearing of the Amazon rainforest has been curbed, but soy is also grown on cleared land elsewhere. Denmark imports 1.3 to 1.8 million tonnes of soy products a year, more than 90 percent of it for animal feed1, mainly for pigs and dairy cattle2. A University of Copenhagen report says the Amazon soy moratorium halted soy-driven clearing there but partly pushed soy into other habitats such as the Cerrado savanna3. The report was funded by WWF Denmark.

The Danish Alliance for Responsible Soy estimates that at least 53 percent of imports were certified or verified in 20234. But only 6 percent of the certified volume was physically traceable; most was covered by purchased credits or mixed supply, which do not guarantee deforestation-free soy56. The Danish Climate Council cites an estimate of 2.4 to 7.0 million tonnes CO2e a year from deforestation linked to Danish soy and palm oil use, a wide range because the feed's origin is unknown7. The EU's deforestation regulation bans soy from land cleared after 31 December 20203.