Investigation links Australian deforestation to beef farming and major bank loans

Sadie Harley

Scientific Editor

Andrew Zinin

Chief Editor

ACF's latest report, "Bulldozers and Broken Promises," an investigation into deforestation, has ruffled a few feathers. But someone has to do it. Why? Because deforestation is a huge problem in Australia.

An average of around 400,000 hectares (988,000 acres) of forest and woodland are bulldozed every year, with much of it unregulated and driven by a small number of beef farmers. Deforestation destroys the homes of threatened animals like koalas and greater gliders, pink cockatoos and endangered skinks—20 million animals are killed, maimed or displaced every year through deforestation.

Flattening forests also releases carbon into the atmosphere, contributing to the climate crisis, and damages soils, posing a risk to food security. On top of all of this, deforestation in the Great Barrier Reef catchment area can cause sediment to flow into, smother and damage the reef.

ACF's 2026 investigation revealed 150 cases of recent bulldozing, which amounted to the destruction of more than 32,000 hectares (79,000 acres) of native bushland—and we know this is just a snippet of the total forest destruction that likely occurred in the past year. Behind the bulldozers are some of Australia's biggest banks, fast-food chains and supermarkets.

How are banks, fast-food chains and supermarkets linked to deforestation?

Of the deforestation we detected, 99% of it was linked to agriculture. And of the 150 cases of destruction, 127 were on grazing properties, mainly for beef.

The biggest buyers of Aussie beef are supermarkets Woolworths and Coles, and fast-food giants McDonald's and Hungry Jack's. These corporations should be able to assure Australians and overseas consumers that the beef they buy is not linked to any of these deforestation cases and has no connection to the destruction of koalas' homes or the smothering of corals on the Great Barrier Reef. Right now, they can't. Consumers deserve better.

"If you're picking up some sausages for your family or a burger at the drive-thru, you should be able to have confidence that it doesn't contribute to the bulldozing of koalas' forest homes. Right now, you can't."

Banks also have a role to play, particularly through the loans they provide and the activities they finance. We linked 82 of the bulldozing cases and a total of 16,540 hectares (40,900 acres) of deforestation to mortgages from major Australian banks, including NAB, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ.

Shockingly, no Australian bank has a policy requiring its customers to avoid deforestation.

Where does ACF come in?

Australia has no early detection and mapping system for deforestation. This makes it impossible to take timely action to halt deforestation and save critical habitat for our most vulnerable threatened species.

In the absence of effective government or corporate monitoring, ACF investigators, helped by thousands of citizen scientists, conduct investigations in areas at high risk of land clearing every year. In 2026, they scanned more than 10 million hectares (24.7 million acres) of satellite imagery.

Our 2026 investigation detected 150 examples of deforestation, a lot of it potentially illegal.

Across the properties, more than 30,000 hectares (74,000 acres) of forest and woodland were bulldozed. All the forest and woodland was over 15 years old, most of it much older, and in most cases some of the forest was mapped as remnant—meaning it has never been cleared before. All of it provided homes for Australian wildlife.

On one beef property in the Herbert River catchment in Queensland's Wet Tropics, more than 1,700 hectares (4,200 acres) were bulldozed—that's equivalent to around six Sydney Harbors.

Thanks to ACF reporting the bulldozers, the National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) issued a stop-work order, declaring that any further clearing there could have contributed 1,000 metric tons (1,100 tons) of sediment flowing into the Great Barrier Reef. This was the new NEPA's first-ever Environment Protection Order.

In another case on the Cobar Peneplain in western New South Wales, a hot spot for deforestation, the cattle ranchers who own the property destroyed 796 hectares (1,970 acres) of native vegetation that was mapped as being habitat for animals like endangered koalas and pink cockatoos.

What do we want supermarkets and fast-food chains to do?

Coles and Woolworths both made a promise to sell only deforestation-free beef by the end of 2025. Neither of them has kept that promise, which means any of the beef in their fridges could be linked to deforestation.

To protect koalas and save the Great Barrier Reef, every sausage and steak sold by Coles and Woolies, and every burger at Hungry Jack's and McDonald's, should come from one of the many Australian farmers who are deforestation-free.

More information

Bulldozers and broken promises. Is the beef in your trolley linked to forest destruction? canopy.acf.org.au/asset/333bfb … -broken-promises.pdf

Provided by Australian Conservation Foundation

Citation: Investigation links Australian deforestation to beef farming and major bank loans (2026, November 5) retrieved 6 November 2026 from https://phys.org/news/2026-11-links-australian-deforestation-beef-farming.html