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Credible policies in biggest economies double to 22

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Brazil, China among countries to act to protect land

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Risk to food companies, investors could hit $150 bln

By Simon Jessop

LONDON, March 14 (Reuters) - National policies to halt

nature loss and deforestation across the world's biggest

economies have doubled to 22 over the last year and posed a

serious risk to unprepared investors, a report on Thursday

showed.

The report by the Inevitable Policy Response, a forecasting

group set up by the U.N.-backed Principles for Responsible

Investment, said individual firms in the food supply chain, for

example, could lose as much as 26% of their value by 2030 with

the sector average 7%, an equivalent of $150 billion.

The policies include a Chinese plan to tackle emissions from

livestock and rehabilitate 30% of degraded land by 2030 in a new

biodiversity plan; Brazil, meanwhile, plans to revive up to 40

million hectares (99 million acres) of land.

This in turn will see increased legal, compliance and

reputation risks for those companies which have not eliminated

deforestation from their supply chains, with customers in

regions like Europe pushed to refuse to buy from companies which

do not have forest-friendly processes in place.

While investors could look to buy into food companies with a

better performance on deforestation, they would also have more

chances to invest directly in "nature-based solutions", which

can include activities such as afforestation.

The total land area given over to such activities is set to

grow tenfold between 2021 and 2035, and would equal nearly 10%

of the world's current agricultural land, the report said.

The United Nations Environment Programme has estimated that

$4.1 trillion is needed by 2050 to reach 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The report showed "measuring and managing risks and

opportunities stemming from deforestation, nature loss and land

use an important part of our responsibility to our clients,"

said Andy Howard, Global Head of Sustainable Investment at asset

manager Schroders ( SHNWF ).