Cargill Announce Support for Deforestation, Defying Customers
Doubles down on plans to continue exploiting and destroying irreplaceable Brazilian ecosystems
In an open letter to soybean producers in Brazil, Cargill announced its opposition to protections for native habitat in Brazil’s Cerrado that would build on the 12-year-long success of the Amazon Soy Moratorium, which banned conversion of additional Amazon forests for soy.
In response to this announcement, Mighty Earth CEO Glenn Hurowitz released the following statement:
“Cargill continues to prioritize the deforesters in its supply chain over the climate or their customers’ sustainability demands. This is a real slap in the face to companies like Ahold Delhaize and McDonald’s that have repeatedly called on Cargill to build on the extraordinary success of the Amazon Soy Moratorium in additional ecosystems in South America. If these companies are serious about their own sustainability commitments, they’ve got to go beyond polite calls and shift their purchases to more responsible suppliers.
“At a time when Brazil’s forests are being churned up and Indigenous Peoples are being displaced by its suppliers, Cargill continues to embrace business as usual – even as concerned Brazilians and its own customers demand solutions to this environmental and human rights crisis.
“Cargill CEO David MacLennan continues to disappoint. He is fond of making grand public commitments, but anyone who cares about the health of our planet – and I know that includes many people within Cargill – should be dispirited by his ongoing failure to take even basic steps to turn this commitment into reality.”
Contact:
Alex Armstrong
[email protected]
