There is nothing Vegan about deforestation.

Your favourite coconut-lime candle is not actually Vegan.

As a beeswax candle maker I often hear, “I can’t use them, they’re not vegan,” and I think it's important to shed light on the impacts of soy agriculture so that we can understand the greenwashing that has shaped the “vegan” soy candle industry.

Soy wax is marketed as a sustainable and eco-friendly material, but a little bit of research reveals how eco-unfriendly the wax really is. This is important because people who usually opt for soy candles over their cheaper, paraffin counterparts are investing their energy and money into products they hope are greener than the alternatives.

One of the biggest issues with soy candles being touted as “vegan” and “eco” is the harmful effects of deforestation prevalent soy agriculture. In order to grow soybeans on a large scale, forests are cleared and converted to monoculture soy fields. Deforestation is not vegan. When mass amounts of land are clear-cut to make way for soy fields, animal populations suffer greatly.

There have been regulations in place to make soy agriculture sound sustainable, but a little digging reveals that there is very little that can be done to ensure corporations uphold these standards.

More than 400 sq miles (1,000 sq km) of Amazon rainforest has been felled to expand farms growing soya in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso in a 10-year period, despite an agreement to protect it, according to a new investigation.

In 2006, the landmark Amazon soy moratorium was introduced banning the sale of soya grown on land deforested after 2008. From 2004 to 2012, the clearing of trees in the Amazon fell by 84%. But in recent years deforestation has climbed steeply, reaching a 15-year high last year – encouraged, campaigners say, by President Jair Bolsonaro’s anti-conservationist rhetoric and policies.

With the moratorium applying only to soya, farmers have been able to sell the crop as deforestation-free, while still clearing land for cattle, maize or other commodities.

— The Guardian

Here are just a view detrimental effects that large-scale cultivation of soybean crops in a single area has on the environment: