Sky has committed to raise another £4m to help drive down greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation in Brazil, after a French shoe manufacturer signed a deal to buy sustainable rubber from a series of new production units in the Amazon.

The TV giant confirmed yesterday that it would continue to fund the Rainforest Rescue programme until 2015, which is run in collaboration with WWF and the Acre State government in Brazil.

The scheme aims to help save one billion trees by showing small-scale farming families sustainable alternatives to deforestation, including harvesting rubber from trees that can then be sold.

Sky has already raised £4m in the past three years for the project and now aims to raise a further £4m, by matchfunding any donations from the public and other businesses.

A spokeswoman for Sky told BusinessGreen that the first three years of the scheme had focused on laying the groundwork for the project, while the next three years would aim to ensure its long-term success.

French trainer company Veja recently committed to buying three tonnes of sustainable processed rubber in 2012, while Sky said talks were also under way with other companies about similar deals.

Sky and WWF now hope to build 30 further processing units for sustainable rubber in addition to the 37 already built, to help develop a fishing industry for the large freshwater pirarucu fish, as well as strengthening the supply chain for the “super-food” acai berries.

David Nussbaum, chief executive of WWF-UK, said the commitment would also help raise awareness of environmental issues in the run-up to the Rio+20 earth summit taking place later this month in Brazil.

“Sky Rainforest Rescue is already widely regarded as a great example of how effective such partnerships between charities and business can be in defining new models for sustainable conservation,” he said.

“With Rio+20 looming and increasing recognition that radical new models are needed to save our most precious ecosystems, we believe the lessons learned in Acre can be applied across other vulnerable forest regions through mechanisms like REDD+.”