...Increasing deforestation in the Amazon in 2020 has prompted banks and funds to promise changes in investments that affect the region. Nordea, the largest asset management company in the Nordic countries, announced the withdrawal of all its investments from JBS, the world’s largest meat exporter. A month earlier, another group of 29 financial institutions that control more than $3.7 trillion had already expressed concern about the problem in a letter addressed to the Brazilian government.

But some investors with strong influence in the Amazon have resisted the calls for reform. That is the case of Morgan Stanley, a shareholder in two of the three largest beef producers in Brazil. The company owns 3.4% of Marfrig, the second-largest meatpacker in the country, and 4.94% of Minerva, the third-largest meatpacker...

Cases of illegal deforestation were found in suppliers of the two companies in which Morgan Stanley holds stakes. Documents obtained by Repórter Brasil show that Marfrig bought cattle from the family of one of the largest deforesters in the Amazon. The two meatpacking companies in which Morgan Stanley holds shares are also linked to farms that have been fined for illegal deforestation in their supply chains.

The cases were presented to Morgan Stanley, but the company declined to comment on the issue, arguing that “these shares are not held as a strategic or proprietary investment on behalf of Morgan Stanley.”...