Fast fashion giants H&M and Zara have been sourcing cotton from farms associated with extensive deforestation, land-grabbing, corruption, and violence in Brazil, revealed by a report from environmental group Earthsight released on April 11.

Utilizing a combination of satellite images, court rulings, shipment records, and undercover investigations, the report, titled “Fashion Crimes,” unveiled that these companies have been procuring “tainted cotton” from the delicate ecosystem of the Cerrado savanna, cultivated by two major Brazilian agribusiness firms, SLC Agricola and the Horita Group.

Despite the documented abuses tied to its production, the cotton had been falsely labeled as ethical by the leading certification scheme Better Cotton, revealing significant flaws in its oversight mechanisms, according to the British environmental group.

The Cerrado, renowned as the most biodiverse savanna globally, has been rapidly vanishing due to the escalating encroachment of Brazil’s massive agribusiness industry into the region in recent years.

Earthsight’s investigation traced the export of at least 816,000 tonnes of cotton from 2014 to 2023 to farms managed by SLC and Horita, which have amassed a history of court injunctions, corruption allegations, and hefty fines pertaining to the clearance of approximately 100,000 hectares of Cerrado wilderness.

The cotton in question was cultivated in the northeastern state of Bahia and subsequently supplied to eight Asian clothing manufacturers, including those serving H&M and Zara, based in Sweden and Spain respectively.

Brazil, renowned as the world’s top exporter of beef and soybeans, has also emerged as a significant cotton producer in recent years, ranking second only to the United States.

However, this expansion has come at a substantial environmental cost, particularly in the Cerrado, where a detrimental amalgamation of corruption, greed, violence, and impunity has resulted in the unabashed usurpation of public lands and the displacement of local communities, as highlighted by Earthsight.

In response to these alarming revelations, Better Cotton has issued a statement indicating that it conducted an independent audit to investigate the “highly concerning issues” raised in the report, pledging to furnish a summary of its findings.

Earthsight report said that more than half of the Cerrado has succumbed to large-scale agricultural expansion, primarily within the last few decades.

This rampant deforestation, as evidenced by footage from Earthsight (ES), has resulted in climate impacts equivalent to the emissions of 50 million additional cars annually, according to estimates by the Brazilian government.

The habitat loss has placed hundreds of species at risk of extinction. Furthermore, billions of liters of freshwater are diverted to cotton fields each year, where they are inundated with 600 million liters of highly toxic pesticides.

The situation continues to deteriorate, with deforestation escalating by 43 per cent in the past year alone, the report said.

Earthsight asserted that the ‘smash and grab’ tactics employed by the largest estates under investigation were emblematic of export-oriented producers.

Brazil has witnessed a dramatic increase in cotton production in recent decades, predominantly within the Cerrado, where it is now commonly cultivated alongside soy.

By 2030, Brazil is projected to surpass the United States as the world’s leading cotton exporter.

“While we all know what soy and beef have done to Brazil’s forests, cotton’s impact has gone largely unnoticed. Yet the crop has boomed in recent decades and become an environmental disaster. If you have cotton clothes, towels or bed sheets from H&M or Zara, they may well be stained by the plundering of the Cerrado” Earthsight director Sam Lawson said.

These firms talk about good practice, social responsibility and certification schemes, they claim to invest in traceability and sustainability, but all this now looks about as fake as their highstreet window arrangements, he said.

Sam also said that it has become very clear that crimes related to the commodities people consume have to be addressed through regulation, not consumer choices.

“That means lawmakers in consumer countries should put in place strong laws with tough enforcement. In the meantime, shoppers should think twice before buying their next piece of cotton clothing,” Earthsight director mentioned.