The Soft Commodities Forum (SCF) excited to welcome Matthew Reddy, Senior Private Sector Specialist at the Global Environment Facility (GEF), to its advisory board. This isn’t Matt’s first experience with the SCF – he was previously Director of Climate-Smart Agriculture and the SCF (from November 2014 until June 2019), gaining a deep understanding of the initiative’s mission making him the adequate candidate for this role. With extensive expertise in sustainable finance and global markets, Matt brings crucial insights to support SCF’s accelerating work to shape responsible soy supply chains in Brazil’s Cerrado.
In this interview, we asked Matt for his view on the SCF today, the central role of finance in driving its mission, and the future economic paths that could shape sustainable landscape initiatives in Brazil and globally.
Q1: For readers who are less familiar with the mission of the Global Environment Facility, could you briefly introduce your role there?
The Global Environment Facility, or GEF, is a unique multilateral fund housed at the World Bank, dedicated to helping countries meet their goals and targets under the Rio Conventions for climate and nature and the Minamata and Stockholm chemicals conventions. Over the past three decades, the GEF has provided more than $26 billion in financing, primarily as grants, and mobilized for another $153 billion for country-driven priority projects. In fact, our projects and activities are probably more widely known to the general public than the name of the GEF itself, as is the case with our investments in the Agri 3 Fund and the Rhino Bond. We are the largest investor in biodiversity globally and have made the largest financial commitment to the Amazon Basin. Over the last few GEF funding cycles, the topic of food systems has become one of our highest priorities. We can simultaneously address climate change adaptation, greenhouse gas mitigation, highly hazardous chemicals, and biodiversity under one global umbrella, and work with global organizations like WBCSD who share the same vision for a healthy planet and healthy people.
My role at the GEF is to support partnerships with the private sector that can drive systemic transformation. This means taking a value chain or sectoral approach where risks are reduced through collaboration, investments are shared, and public finance and policy can support private sector ambition.
Q2: What motivated you to join the Advisory Group of the Soft Commodities Forum, and why do you see this as a pivotal moment for the initiative?
I was fortunate to witness the SCF’s genesis first-hand when I was running the agriculture program at WBCSD – I was engaged right from the initial calls and meetings all the way to the development of the traceability methodology and the production of the first SCF annual report. There was a lot of energy and high ambition among the members about this exciting new way of collaborating on shared challenges in the Cerrado. Over time, and as the group matured, trust has built between members and the collaboration is now stronger than ever, driving results on the ground and equitable outcomes for farmers.
The results of working together and the success of the SCF stem from having a unique position of facing both supply- and demand-side dynamics. This has led to a broader partnership with producer groups in the Cerrado and downstream companies in Europe, aligning through the enabling power of the trading companies.
As we move to the next stage of Cerrado investments, we must deepen the farmer-centric approach. This means integrating private and public financial resources into solutions that improve soil, boost productivity, support livelihoods, and deliver conservation outcomes. These solutions should align with the vision of production landscapes that are deforestation- and conversion-free (DCF). At the same time, we need an enabling policy environment that gives both farmers and companies the confidence to invest.
Q3: As Brazil prepares to host COP30, how can initiatives like the SCF become a global model for sustainable landscapes while advancing national ambitions?
COP 30 will shine a light on Nature-Based solutions, the potential for agriculture to be a positive force for climate change mitigation and adaptation. As such, the SCF’s initiatives can serve as model for other production landscapes with high biodiversity and climate priorities. The private sector is the ideal conduit to translate initiatives from one landscape to another and build that essential link between demand for DCF commodities and sustainable supply.
As COP 31 could be hosted in Australia, there is an ideal opportunity to create government and business bridges that link COP 30 outcomes in Brazil to commodity landscapes in Australia and the Pacific region to then build technical partnerships through the countries’ respective scientific organizations EMBRAPA and CSIRO.
Q4: Looking ahead, how do you see the Farmer First Clusters (FFC) and the Sustainable Landscapes Partnership (SLP) developing, and what will it take to both deliver real benefits for farmers and attract the scale of investment needed?
These two initiatives give us a platform for much wider and more impactful collaboration with science partners, NGOs, and local agribusiness associations. By getting to the most challenging issues and identifying the biggest opportunities on the ground, the FFC and SLP – linking to leading downstream brands – have the potential to generate many cycles of investment and empower farmers to shift towards DCF production and regenerative practices. I would see organizations like the GEF, the World Bank Group (WBG) members and regional development banks taking a keen interest in working with these initiatives. The interest lies in the demonstration that public finance can facilitate private capital flows, often through financial instruments such as first lost guarantees, extended loans, or interest rate reductions. Through such public and private blended approaches, we can attain the level of investment needed – to tackle the scale of the challenge we need to mobilize all sources of funds available.
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