French Government deforestation ranking shows Bunge and Cargill bring most forest-ravaging soy to France
French Government-backed deforestation ranking shows Bunge and Cargill bring most forest-ravaging soy to France
Paris, 25 November 2021 – For immediate release
The French Government unveiled a new soy-linked deforestation risk tool showing that Bunge and Cargill import the bulk of dirty Brazilian soy into France. This is the first time a government has published a ranking of soy traders based on their deforestation risk. This online tool has the potential to become a catalyst for cleaning up soy supply chains for the EU market.
The deforestation risk analysis tool uses satellite images and supply chain data to quantify the volumes of soy coming into France that was grown in recently deforested areas in Brazil’s Amazon rainforests and the Cerrado tropical savannahs. The tool was developed by NGO Canopée and supply chain data experts Trase in consultation with the government working group formed by 45 representatives from the soy supply chain in France.
Just one year ago, the eight largest supermarkets in France led by Carrefour agreed to use deforestation- and conversion-free soy in a pledge called the French Soy Manifesto. This risk analysis is key to start implementing these commitments. Recently, big meat companies including Groupe LDC, Europe’s largest chicken company, andCooperl, France’s largest pork producer, joined retailers and agreed to only source clean soy.
Nico Muzi, Europe Director of Mighty Earth, said:
“We welcome the French government decision to publish this key tool that supermarkets and meat companies in France have been waiting for. Last year, Carrefour showed leadership in getting all big supermarkets to agree to stop using soy resulting from deforestation. Now, we urge Carrefour to put their money where their mouth is and shift soy purchases away from the highest deforestation risk traders, Bunge and Cargill, to less risky ones.”
Ranking of Brazilian soy importers based on their deforestation risk
Bunge and Cargill are Brazil’s largest soy exporters and are also the largest importers of Brazilian soy into France.
The findings of this new government-backed tool match the results of Mighty Earth’s own Soy and Cattle Deforestation Tracker, which earlier this year showed that the two largest European importers of soy, Bunge and Cargill, are the worst performing soy traders. Mighty Earth’s Deforestation Tracker estimated that between March 2019 and March 2021, Bunge was linked to almost 60,000 hectares of deforestation in Brazil, an area five times the size of Ville de Paris.
Soy consumption in France is responsible for the worst impacts on forests and native ecosystems. Soy for animal feed is the commodity imported into the EU that caused the most deforestation between 2005 and 2017.
“There’s simply no need to bulldoze forests and woody savannahs to make room for soy. There are more than 400 million hectares of previously deforested land where all future soy demand can easily be met without threatening the world’s last ecosystems.
“We urge Cargill and Bunge to agree a Moratorium in the Cerrado with a cut-off date of 2020 in the same fashion of the Amazon Soy Moratorium, which the same soy traders agreed back in 2006 and stopped deforestation linked to soy overnight. This is a business decision the CEOs of Cargill and Bunge need to make asap,” said Nico Muzi.
Nine in 10 Carrefour customers in France think that supermarkets should not do business with the companies that are driving the destruction of forests in Brazil, according to YouGov poll conducted for Mighty Earth earlier this year. Despite this, the French supermarket giant keeps sourcing from the companies most responsible for driving deforestation including Cargill and Bunge. With the acquisition of BIG in March, Carrefour Brasil has become the biggest supermarket in Brazil.
ENDS
About Mighty Earth
Mighty Earth is a global environmental campaign organization that works to protect forests, conserve oceans, and address climate change. We work in Europe, Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa, and North America to drive large-scale action towards environmentally responsible agriculture that protects native ecosystems, wildlife, and water, and respects local community rights.
More information on Mighty Earth can be found at www.mightyearth.org/.
EU Transparency Register: 169821638625-38
Contact details:
Nico Muzi – [email protected]
+32 484 27 87 91
