Cargill’s Uninspiring Climate Commitment

In response to Cargill’s latest announcement regarding the company’s contribution to climate change and its plans for emissions reductions, Mighty Earth CEO Glenn Hurowitz released the following statement:

“Cargill has once again demonstrated its penchant for generating nice headlines with positive sounding but substance-less commitments.

“Cargill is finally recognizing that a trader’s impact is in what they trade – and Cargill is trading in unsustainable and environmentally destructive goods. But announcing ill-defined and unenforceable less-than-half measures is meaningless.

“Cargill’s track record does not inspire confidence that today’s announcement will lead to tangible results. As with its commitment earlier this year to spend $30 million on a to-be-determined strategy to fight deforestation, the company’s spokespeople have admitted that they do not know how to implement this commitment.

“And like Cargill’s pledge to eliminate deforestation from key supply chains by 2020, successful implementation is a less likely outcome than another pained acknowledgement that they will fail to meet the goal.

“Cargill keeps saying they want to do something. They’ve articulated the ‘want’ but not the ‘something.'”