A recent bill from the United Kingdom’s Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs bans the country’s supermarkets from purchasing foods linked to illegal deforestation and land procurement practices.

Larger businesses like grocery chains, Tesco, now need proof that their products such as soy and palm oil came through a supply chain that complies with local regulations. Failure to comply with these regulations will result in fines. This move comes ahead of the highly anticipated United Nations Global Climate Summit (COP26) that will be hosted in the UK.

In late 2019, Tesco also gathered 150 companies to support the Cerrado region of Brazil, where the company sources 60 percent of its Brazilian soy products.

The global rate of deforestation is estimated to be 10 million hectares per year with approximately 73 percent of tropical deforestation linked to both large-scale and local subsistence farming according to a recent report from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. The report indicates that agricultural expansion is the primary driver of deforestation.