News
Carrefour is STILL smoking us out! And we have new evidence!
Mighty Earth launched a new report and campaign in September calling on the French retail giant to urgently clean up its supply chains and cut ties with industrial meat and soy traders driving deforestation.
In response to that, Carrefour said it had suspended beef supplies from two JBS slaughterhouses linked to deforestation on Indigenous Uru-eu-wau-wau land in the Amazon.
We’ve now found new evidence that deforestation-tainted meat is still being sold in Carrefour’s Atacadao brand shops in Brazil. Carrefour explains this as a “malfunction!”
Read our second and latest report on Carrefour here.
New investigation alleges deforestation and greenwashing linked to Michelin.
A major new year-and-a-half long investigation by Voxeurop into a “sustainable” rubber project by French tire giant Michelin and Indonesian conglomerate Barito Pacific has led to fresh allegations of widespread deforestation, wildlife habitat destruction, and greenwashing linked to the joint venture.
The investigation, initially sparked by Mighty Earth’s 2020 Complicit report, alleges investors in a $95 million so-called “green bond” used to finance the PT Royal Lestari Utama (RLU) project in Jambi, Sumatra, were misled and never told that Michelin’s local partner had deforested thousands of hectares of tropical rainforest and global priority wildlife habitats just prior to the launch of the flagship project in January 2015.
Michelin had claimed to investors that the RLU project would promote good practices for sustainable natural rubber production and support the development of local communities while protecting, reforesting, and restoring crucial habitats for the critically endangered Sumatran tigers, elephants, and orangutans, which live in and around RLU's rubber plantations.
Specifically, Michelin said in a key press statement in May 2015 that their RLU project with Barito Pacific would include: “The reforestation of three concessions, representing a total surface area of 88,000 hectares, ravaged by uncontrolled deforestation.” But analysis of historical satellite imagery published in the Voxeurop report found much of the landscape within RLU’s concessions in Jambi was not previously “ravaged by uncontrolled deforestation” at all.
Instead, Voxeurop’s investigation claims that 8,468 hectares of pristine rainforests within the concession were industrially deforested to make way for RLU’s monoculture rubber plantations and that, in doing so, vital habitats in Sumatra’s No.1 conservation priority area – including key tiger ranges, elephant corridors, and orangutan re-introduction sites – were destroyed and fragmented. Two highly vulnerable forest-dwelling Indigenous communities also lost their ancestral lands, and other villagers and local communities have claimed they did not give their free, prior and informed consent for these forest clearances.
Overall, Voxeurop found about a third of the rubber plantations financed by the green bonds are located in the area that was deforested in Jambi before the joint venture with Michelin and Barito Pacific was signed.
The RLU project was supported by major organisations such as the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), USAID, and WWF and backed by key banks and financiers such as BNP Paribas, ADM Capital and the &Green fund. But the investigation published by Voxeurop asserts that Michelin and the Tropical Landscapes Finance Facility (TLFF), which issued the 15-year $95m green bond, knew from an independent assessment report by Earthworm that Michelin’s local partner, Barito Pacific, had intentionally deforested the Jambi rainforests between 2011 and 2014. According to Voxeurop and an earlier complaint by Mighty Earth, this information was not shared with investors during the sale of $95m of green bonds on the Singapore Exchange in 2018 to finance the RLU project – a financial innovation dubbed as “Asia’s first green bond”, and which seemingly complied with Climate Bonds Initiative standards.
In June 2022, Michelin acquired RLU as a sole shareholder. In an extraordinary twist, that following month, the entire $95m in long-dated green bonds were quietly redeemed and paid back in full to investors for reasons which remain unclear.
Following the publication of the new evidence by Voxeurop, Mighty Earth Senior Director, Alex Wijeratna, said:
“This is a major scandal and a classic example of how green bonds are fuelling corporate greenwashing.”
“Two years ago, Mighty Earth produced evidence which suggested that Michelin knew its local partner had carried out extensive deforestation in Sumatra’s number one priority conservation area prior to the official launch of their joint venture. Voxeurop’s new investigation adds weight to our assertion that Michelin and other key actors failed to disclose material information about that critical habitat destruction to investors in this collapsed green bond scheme.”
“Local communities claim they were allegedly forced off their ancestral land in Jambi without free, prior and informed consent, while global priority habitats of critically endangered species were destroyed, bringing people and wildlife into conflict. Mighty Earth is joining local groups in Indonesia calling for an urgent UN investigation into alleged Indigenous, environmental, and human rights violations linked to Michelin’s RLU rubber project in Sumatra.”
With the publication of Voxeurop’s new investigation, there is now considerable evidence demonstrating that the RLU project in Jambi was in likely violation of the voluntary Green and Sustainability Bond Principles. Mighty Earth submitted a formal complaint to the green bond oversight body, the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) in London in March 2021 against the $95m green bond listing on the RLU project, but the CBI failed to formally respond to or investigate Mighty Earth’s complaint. With moves to tackle corporate greenwashing hitting the headlines at COP27, and the UN demanding a tightening of these voluntary standards, this case exemplifies all that is wrong with so-called “green” bonds.
Dr Julian Oram, Senior Director at Mighty Earth, is calling for proper scrutiny of green and sustainability-linked bonds to prevent greenwashing:
“Voxeurop’s evidence has exposed grave flaws in the booming but wildly unregulated green bond market. It has revealed how Southeast Asia’s first corporate green bond was glaringly unfit for purpose and facilitated greenwashing of a project with patently unsustainable origins.”
“With proper human rights-based due diligence and close stakeholder consultation, green finance schemes can play an important role in leveraging vital funds into nature-enhancing agriculture projects. But we need tougher regulation and scrutiny of green, climate and sustainability-linked bonds to ensure these schemes don’t mislead investors or inadvertently fuel climate change or forest and wildlife habitat destruction.”
Abdullah Bedoel, Executive Director of local environmental group Walhi Jambi, said human-wildlife conflict has become a bigger problem following the RLU project:
“The local community in Jambi have lost most of their ancestral forests due to massive land clearing for Michelin’s RLU project. In the past, the community could use the forests as a source of livelihood and grow crops. Now the animals that used to live there have lost their habitat, and the area has been opened to wildlife hunters. The food chain is badly disrupted, causing wildlife such as tigers and elephants to descend on community settlements in search of food. In the past, before the large-scale forest clearing, there were no cases of wildlife attacks on local communities. Now, communities around the forest must deal with elephant herds entering their farmlands and tigers preying on their livestock, even resulting in fatalities.”
Mighty Earth is calling for:
- An urgent UN investigation into alleged Indigenous, environmental and human rights violations in the RLU project area in Jambi, specifically those relating to the violation of Indigenous peoples’ rights;
- The publication of all environmental and social assessments, wildlife surveys, FPIC and community consultation exercises conducted before the launch of the joint venture between Michelin and Barito Pacific;
- Restoration of environmental damage done and full compensation for all negatively affected communities.
- Tighter regulation of green bond markets to stop the mis-selling of financial products linked to “sustainable” rubber and other commodity projects without adequate due diligence checks.
- A formal response to a written complaint submitted by Mighty Earth in March 2021 to the Climate Bonds Initiative, which played a crucial role in rubber-stamping the “green” credentials of the RLU project.
Agribusiness plan to end deforestation: no targets, no accountability, more destruction
The meat industry lost a golden opportunity to end deforestation today and seems hell-bent on making sure they keep missing. The roadmap’s insistence that individual companies undertake best efforts to establish individual cut-off dates for deforestation no later than 2025 means the bulldozers will keep running and the destruction will continue.
Cargill, Bunge, and the other companies are trying to defy that we’re in a climate and nature crisis, as well undermining President Lula’s agenda that puts forests at the center of Brazil’s economic and political development.
“They’re also defying the calls of their own customers, the supermarkets who called on them to end deforestation effective from 2020. They seem to expect that they can continue to get away with deforestation with impunity. It’s up to supermarkets like Carrefour and Tesco to make sure there are consequences for their continued role in burning the Amazon and other ecosystems.”
“The Amazon has lost more than 2 billon trees in the last four years and every day that passes takes it closer to a tipping point, where it is no longer able to function and play its part in cooling a warming world. It’s up to private sector and government to make the vision of Nature, as an essential part of the climate solution, a reality.
Mighty Earth's Glenn Hurowitz speaks to BBC World's Newsday
Mighty Earth's CEO Glenn Hurowitz joined BBC World News earlier today for live coverage of President-elect Lula's victory in Brazil. Lula is promising to put Indigenous communities and the protection of the #Amazon at the heart of his political and economic plans. He'll be welcomed onto the world stage at the upcoming climate conference in Egypt to outline his vision. Commenting, Mighty's CEO said it's a huge boost for the planet to have a leader of a large country like Brazil prioritising people, climate and nature.
What a profound relief for the Amazon - Lula beats Bolsonaro
What a profound relief for the Amazon, Brazil’s Indigenous people, and the planet. Lula’s election really is a big deal: When you dig into his agenda for the environment, it’s exhilarating:
🌳 Restoring environmental law enforcement
🌳 Creating half a million square kilometers of Indigenous reserves and protected areas.
🌳 Tax incentives to drive development onto degraded land instead of pristine ecosystems and support sustainable farming.
Lula is also likely to restart the Amazon fund that works with international partners to support conservation and partner with other rainforest nations.
As big of a victory for the climate as this is, however, the election of pro-deforestation governors and congressional representatives means fully achieving Lula’s vision faces challenges. Bringing environmental cops back on the beat and tax changes require Congress to appropriate funds to operationalize it.
Some of the biggest obstacles are the international companies that dominate Brazil’s enormous meat industry – by far the biggest driver of deforestation. Carrefour, Tesco, Stop & Shop, and BNP Paribas engaged in shameful behavior during the Bolsonaro administration. No matter how many acres went up in smoke or how many land defenders were murdered, they continued doing business with the companies most linked to the deforestation spree. I hope Lula’s administration will investigate these companies' actions.
Under Lula’s previous administration, deforestation plummeted even as the agriculture sector surged. He broke the link between environmental destruction and economic growth. During his time in office from 2003 to 2011 Lula radically reduced the deforestation of the globally important Amazon. Still, much of the hard work was undone by Bolsonaro, who weakened environmental protection and Indigenous land rights over the last four years. One study says during his presidency, the Amazon lost 2 billion trees.
Tackling deforestation in Brazil remains critical for the country to meet its climate pledges. Emissions linked to deforestation and agriculture make Brazil the seventh highest polluter globally. Despite Brazil’s pledges to rein in deforestation at the COP26 summit last year in Glasgow, it is still very much active in Brazil.
Brazil now has an opportunity to go even further and transform from a major source of climate pollution into the country doing more to suck carbon out of the air than anywhere else in the world…if the private sector companies who have financed the destruction can finally get out of the way.
For our part, we’re going to be ramping up campaigns to ensure that these companies finally respect Brazil’s natural resources and people so that an environmental disaster never happens again.
Climate Week NYC: Mighty Earth calls time on supermarkets linked to deforestation
NEW YORK (September 22, 2022) – Mighty Earth brought a peaceful and powerful protest to save our precious forests and the people and wildlife who live there, to the Forest Positive Coalition of Action meeting, taking place during New York Climate Week.
The coalition, part of the Consumer Goods Forum, is made up of many of the world’s biggest and most influential companies, with a combined market value running into trillions of dollars: Colgate-Palmolive, Mars, Mondelez, Nestle, Carrefour and Tesco.
Carrying clocks and pushing shopping carts, the dancers demonstrated that time is running out for supermarkets and other consumer goods giants to clean up their supply chains.
The Amazon’s experiencing a record year for fires and urgent action is needed, now. The Forest Positive Coalition has just released its second annual report, pledging to improve transparency and introduce more regulation for all companies.
Our CEO and Founder of Mighty Glenn Hurowitz was on the streets of Manhattan with our activists and inside with industry leaders:
Watch Glenn’s report here:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=445727674201657
Missing from the crunch talks yesterday was the co-chair of the Forest Positive Coalition, Alexandre Bompard who has promised “swift action” on deforestation and to “challenge suppliers, traders and farmers” to improve their practices:
Watch Mr Bompard promise action here:
CGF Forest Positive Coalition of Action: CEO Introduction
We know that meat from illegally deforested land is still ending up on Carrefour shelves: Land that rightfully belongs to the Indigenous Peoples who have lived there for thousands of years. As consumers we are dining on that deforestation, but it is not listed as an ingredient, because these big companies are not transparent about their suppliers and their illegal activities.
We would very much like to speak to Mr Bompard about his promises for “swift action” to find out how plans are progressing! Mr Bompard is one of the industry leaders who can stop deforestation in the Amazon and beyond.
Victory: Mighty Earth celebrates European Parliament’s vote to include rubber in legislation aimed at ending deforestation in EU supply chains
Mighty Earth’s Dr Julian Oram looks back at the campaign waged by civil society groups to ensure natural rubber was included within the scope of the proposed new EU deforestation law. And crucially, the evidence that Mighty Earth presented to persuade MEPs to make the right decision to include natural rubber as a forest-risk commodity alongside soy and meat.
Forest campaigners are celebrating an important win in the European Parliament, which this week voted overwhelmingly to strengthen proposed legislation preventing goods linked to deforestation from being sold in the European Union. Sustained and effective lobbying by Mighty Earth and others means natural rubber is now on that list.
The draft law, initially put forward by the European Commission, will require companies to undertake due diligence checks to ensure products they sell in the EU have not been derived from agricultural commodities grown on cleared forest land. Agricultural expansion drives almost 90 per cent of global deforestation, and the EU is the second biggest importer of agricultural goods which drive that deforestation, behind only China.
A flawed gem
Whilst Mighty Earth welcomed the draft regulation as a “major leap forward” in Europe’s efforts to protect forests, the Commission’s proposals had notable gaps and weaknesses. Amongst these were an overly narrow definition of “forests;” the failure to require parallel due diligence measures with regards to the protection of human rights and Indigenous Peoples’ rights; and a strikingly unambitious level of coverage with regards to the types of products that will be covered under the law.
Under the Commission’s proposals, the scope of goods subject to due diligence checks would be limited to six commodities: cattle, coffee, cocoa, palm oil, soy, and wood products. While these products account for the bulk of global deforestation, limiting the scope of the legislation to those six commodities would leave the EU’s door open to significant amounts of imported deforestation from other goods.
Most notable was the omission of natural rubber. The expansion of natural rubber plantations has had an enormous impact on tropical forests over the past 20 years, particularly in Southeast Asia and West Africa. Between 2003 and 2017, over five million hectares of tropical forest were cleared across Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa for rubber plantations. Approximately 70% of natural rubber is consumed by the tire industry.
The EU is a key factor in global rubber markets, consuming an estimated 1.02 million tonnes of natural rubber for vehicle tires and non-tire use in 2020. Over 318 million auto tires were produced in European plants last year, and three of the six largest global tyre and rubber corporations – Michelin, Continental and Pirelli – are based in the EU. The bloc therefore has a key role to play in preventing rubber-driven deforestation.
Evidence falling on deaf ears
When drawing up its “hit list” of commodities, the Commission relied heavily upon an impact assessment that presented a cost/ benefit analysis of introducing due diligence checks on different commodities. This paper concluded that the deforestation footprint of natural rubber (and maize) was not worth the potential impact on the value of imports to Europe, as it would “...require a very large effort, with little return in terms of curbing deforestation driven by EU consumption.”
But an international conservation scientist, Dr Eleanor Warren-Thomas, spotted a fatal flaw in the Commission’s analysis: the authors had only considered natural rubber entering the EU in raw or semi-processed form, and had neglected to consider imports embedded within tires, the primary use of natural rubber. Dr Warren-Thomas realised that the EC cost-benefit analysis study had misinterpreted data from an academic study published in 2020 by Florence Pendrill et. al.Mighty Earth quickly contacted the authors of that study to alert them to the Commission’s misreading of their work. In late October 2021, the academics published a strong critique of the EU’s impact assessment, concluding that “Current evidence does not support recommendations to exempt key forest risk-commodities, such as maize or natural rubber, from EU legislation on imported deforestation”.
In fact, when recalculated to account for rubber embedded in tire imports, the academics showed that the cost-benefit rationale of including natural rubber is comparable to that of cocoa, and stronger in comparison to coffee.
Mighty Earth met with Commission officials from DG Environment to present this evidence, but at this point their mind had already made been made up: rubber was to be excluded from the initial scope of the regulation.
The battleground changes
Following publication of the draft law by the Commission, the battleground shifted to the European Parliament and Council of Europe. In early spring, Mighty Earth reached out to prominent members of the Parliament’s Environment Committee to present evidence that the Commission grossly underestimated the amount of potential deforestation embedded within natural rubber imports to the European Union. This was followed up by trips to Brussels to meet both with Parliamentarians, as well as with officials responsible for the deforestation regulation within the Council of Europe.
Traditionally, the Council, which is made is made up of Member State representatives, adopts a conservative approach to regulatory proposals; i.e., it is rarely the Council that will push for “progressive” changes to proposed laws. This proved to be the case again with the deforestation regulation proposal, which the Council did nothing to improve upon. This meant that any hope of strengthening the legislation rested with the Parliament.
Behind the scenes, a large coalition of civil society groups were pushing members of the Council, MEPs, and business leaders to back stronger measures. These organisations were crucial in winning support within the Environment Committee for provisions to include human rights due diligence, expand the definition of forests, extend responsibilities to the financial sector, and setting a more ambitious cut-off date in place (the point in time after which no goods can be sourced from land that has been deforested).
But with so many issues at stake, there was a danger that the need to expand the scope of commodities to include natural rubber (as well as other key agricultural goods such as leather and maize) would be lost in the melee. Mighty Earth therefore focused heavily on ensuring that MEPs were presented with evidence on natural rubber and saw the benefit of our efforts when members of the Environment Committee added an amendment that would ensure rubber is brought within the scope of the regulation. Over the summer and into September, Mighty Earth continued to pressure MEPs and national Parliamentarians in Spain and elsewhere to ensure that the support for rubber’s inclusion remained strong.
The proposed amendment was carried over into this week’s vote in plenary, representing an important victory for forests, and indeed for common sense!
A shot across the bows of the global rubber industry
The significance of this development should not be underestimated. Compared to companies dealing in products such as soy, cocoa and palm oil, the tire industry has lagged well behind the curve in efforts to develop systems for tracing the origins natural rubber and ensuring deforestation-free supply chains. Should the final regulation include natural rubber, companies wishing to import tires into the EU will need to be able to demonstrate that their products are not tainted by deforestation, land grabbing, or human rights abuses.
This will complement and accelerate existing efforts by initiatives such as the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber, which are slowly attempting to put the industry on a more sustainable path.
What next?
The plenary on September 13 vote sets the European Parliament’s position on the draft law position in the forthcoming “Trialogue,” the tripartite negotiations between the European Commission, Council and Parliament. This process will take place during the autumn, leading to a final version of the EU’s Regulation on deforestation-free products, likely by the end of 2022.
Mighty Earth will continue to push negotiators from all three EU institutions to for an ambitious and effective law, one that includes natural rubber, and helps to transform a laggard industry into a world leader on sustainability.
European Parliament votes for new deforestation law
The European Parliament today voted to strengthen proposals for a new deforestation regulation to help protect the world’s forests.
The draft law, initially put forward by the European Commission, will require companies to ensure that the products they sell in Europe are not driving deforestation or human rights abuses.
The Parliament voted to strengthen the draft law by widening the scope of agricultural and forest commodities to include natural rubber, maize and leather; extending the definition of “forests” to include other wooded lands (such as the Cerrado savannah in Brazil); and ensuring companies undertake due diligence with regards to upholding human rights and Indigenous peoples’ rights in their supply chains.
However, the Parliament’s proposals stopped short of addressing the impacts of EU consumption on other fragile ecosystems, such as wetlands, grasslands, and peatlands, and worryingly would allow large operators and traders to carry out their own due diligence checks rather than requiring independent third-party audits.
Commenting, Dr Julian Oram, Senior Director at Mighty Earth, said:
“It’s a massive success that the European Parliament today voted for amendments to the proposed deforestation law that, if adopted, will provide much-needed protection to forests and the people who live in and depend upon these precious places.”
“We particularly welcome the move by MEPs to align the EU’s deforestation regulation with human rights and the rights of Indigenous peoples under international law.”
“Adding natural rubber to the list of forest-risk commodities is also another significant step, as is putting additional measures on banks, financial institutions, and investors to ensure that their activities do not contribute to deforestation.”
“However, allowing big supermarkets, such as Carrefour, to do their own due diligence potentially leaves the door open for deforestation to continue to seep into EU supply chains. Europeans need to know that the food they buy is not laying waste to our planet’s precious forests. Progress today sets the timer on supermarkets to clean up their acts or face a ban on their deforestation-tainted products.”
Notes
- Today, with 453 votes in favour, 57 against and 123 abstentions, the European Parliament adopted its position on the proposal for legislation on imported deforestation that the European Commission presented in November 2021 in response to a historic demand from citizens and civil society organisations.
- The UN FAO estimates that almost 90% of deforestation is driven by agribusiness. The EU is the world's second-largest importer of tropical deforestation and associated emissions and is responsible for at least 16% of deforestation associated with international trade, totalling 203,000 hectares and 116 million tonnes of CO₂.MEPs voted to recommend a cut-off date of December 31, 2019, meaning that any forest-risk commodity produced on land deforested after that date could not be sold on EU markets.
- Traders should be responsible for collecting and keeping information, ensuring the transparency of the supply chain of relevant commodities and products which they make available on the market. Large traders that are not small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have a significant influence on supply chains and play an important role in supporting operators to ensure that supply chains are deforestation-free and should therefore have the same obligations as operators." (AM 15)
- Other significant wins include:
- definition of environmental right defenders (AM103)
- proportionate penalties to environmental damage (AM188)
- obligation to restore the environment (AM189)
- publication of a public list with the name of companies who do not respect the regulation (AM194)
Carrefour halts beef supplies from two JBS slaughterhouses linked to deforestation on Indigenous land in the Amazon
Link to report
Français: Carrefour Nous Enfume
English: Carrefour's Smokescreen
It comes as Mighty Earth launches a new report and campaign on Amazon Day calling on the French retail giant to urgently act to clean up its supply chains and cut ties with industrial meat and soy traders driving deforestation.
French supermarket giant Carrefour has suspended beef supplies from two JBS slaughterhouses in the Amazon and is investigating evidence of sales of deforestation-tainted beef found in its stores in Brazil. It follows an investigation from Mighty Earth, which found that two-thirds of meat products surveyed in Carrefour stores in Brazil were sourced from JBS and 12% were sourced from two slaughterhouses in Rondônia. According to a CCCA (Center for Climate Crime Analysis) report, those JBS facilities in Rondonia are connected to illegal cattle farms on the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau Indigenous territory in Rondônia state. 1
Mighty Earth surveyed 102 beef products found in six Carrefour stores in Brazil, including three stores in São Paulo, and found twelve beef products came from two JBS slaughterhouses in Rondônia state that are linked to illegal deforestation on the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau land in the Amazon. Brazil-based JBS is the world’s largest meat processor has been repeatedly linked to widespread deforestation in the Amazon and other key biomes such as the Cerrado and the Pantanal.
The suspension of JBS slaughterhouses follows action in December by seven European supermarkets to suspend JBS or Brazilian beef in response to a previous Mighty Earth investigation with Reporter Brasil.
Responding to Mighty Earth’s new report a Carrefour spokesperson said:
“We take note of the report you sent us on Tuesday 30 August. It includes a lot of detailed information, particularly concerning more than a hundred products that Mighty has investigated. We are integrating these elements into our alert process in accordance with our vigilance plan and are launching an investigation into all the data transmitted.”
“As with every alert we receive, the cases you raise require careful consideration in accordance with the Group's alert process. We will take appropriate action based on the results and will get back to you with the decisions taken.”
“In parallel to this investigation process, we are already taking preventive measures by suspending all marketing of beef from the two JBS slaughterhouses in Rondônia, Pimenta Bueno and Vilhena, highlighted in your report.”
On Amazon Day, Mighty Earth is launching a new campaign in France – ‘Carrefour Nous Enfume’ – with advertising and grassroots events – along with a new report calling on the supermarket to show leadership and urgently address deforestation, climate and water pollution, and land-grabbing in its meat supply chains. It follows weeks of record-breaking fires by meat industry interests across the Amazon and other precious biomes, with more fires in August than in any month in five years.2 The Brazilian National Institute for Space Research, INPE, recorded a new record for August of 3,358 fires on Monday 22 August. 3
Boris Patentreger, Mighty Earth’s Senior Director, France, said:
“We’re glad Carrefour acted on our investigation when it comes to these two JBS slaughterhouses, but we must be clear that Carrefour beef is still linked to vast deforestation. Shuffling slaughterhouses doesn’t do a whole lot to protect the Amazon when JBS is still driving deforestation, land-grabbing, and climate pollution on a massive scale.
“The findings show those most affected by this illegal deforestation are the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau Indigenous people whose ancestral lands are being destroyed and burned for cattle ranching to supply JBS slaughterhouses and to produce beef for Carrefour’s supermarket shelves.”
“If Carrefour is serious about selling its customers sustainable meat, it needs to drop JBS, period.”
Sébastien Mabile of Seattle Avocats, counsel for Mighty Earth said:
“The findings of the report provide material evidence of this link between JBS, Carrefour's main supplier in Brazil, and deforestation. Given the extreme seriousness of these risks, Carrefour should have been aware of them. The release of Mighty Earth’s report now obliges Carrefour to halt all activity with this company, as the vigilance must be applied to all risks and not just to some of JBS’ slaughterhouses.”
Mighty Earth’s new campaign challenges Carrefour to:
- Immediately cut ties with key corporations most responsible for deforestation and destruction of natural ecosystems, such as JBS, Bunge and Cargill.
- Carrefour has set a new target to reduce deforestation in its meat supply chains by“ 50% by 2026 and by 100% by 2030, but only in “critical areas.” This is not enough ambitious enough.
- Adopt and implement a clear “Zero Deforestation, Zero Conversion” policy that improves the transparency and traceability of its entire meat and soybean supply chains with immediate effect.
- Set clear policies to require suppliers to reduce their emissions of methane and other forms of climate pollution, and to make the transition to sustainable animal protein, using regenerative agricultural practices.
- Increase sales of plant-based proteins and meat alternatives as part of a broader effort to significantly reduce sales of animal protein, reaching at least 15% sales by 2030.
- Increase Carrefour's support for independent meat supply chain monitoring in Brazil.
In March, Carrefour’s competitor, French supermarket chain Groupe Casino was sued in the Court of Paris for links to deforestation-tainted beef supplied by JBS from farms on Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau Indigenous land. It was a legal first by Mighty Earth and a coalition of Indigenous representatives and civil society groups campaigning to end deforestation and human rights abuses in global supply chains. According to evidence gathered by the Center for Climate Crime Analysis (CCCA) for the case, Groupe Casino regularly bought beef from the two slaughterhouses owned by JBS in Rondônia. 4
Ends
For more information or to arrange an interview contact:
Carole Mitchell, Senior Director of Communications
+44 7917 105000
Notes to editors:
1 CCCA (2022) (Centre for Climate Crime Analysis)
2 Number of Brazil Amazon fires hits five-year high in August, AP
3 Real time satellite monitoring of active fires by The Brazilian Space Agency, INPE
4 Amazonian groups sue French supermarket chain over deforestation, BBC
- “The Territory,” an award-winning new film, partially shot by the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau tells the story of the fight to save their forest home from further deforestation. Watch here
About Mighty Earth
Mighty Earth is a global advocacy organization working to defend a living planet. Our goal is to protect half of Earth for Nature and secure a climate that allows life to flourish. We are obsessed with impact and aspire to be the most effective environmental advocacy organization in the world. Our team has achieved transformative change by persuading leading industries to dramatically reduce deforestation and climate pollution throughout their global supply chains in palm oil, rubber, cocoa, and animal feed, while improving livelihoods for Indigenous and local communities across the tropics.
Complice des feux de forêts au Brésil, “Carrefour Nous Enfume !”
Description de la photo: De gauche à droite : activiste Gert-Peter Bruch Planète Amazone, Claude Gruffat, député européen Groupe Europe Écologie – Les Verts, Boris Patentreger, directeur France Migthy Earth, Michèle Rivasi, députée européenne Groupe des Verts/Alliance libre européenne et activiste d’Extinction Rébellion.
1ère avancée : Mighty Earth obtient de Carrefour l’arrêt de 12% de ses approvisionnements de bœuf auprès de JBS, acteur majeur de la déforestation en Amazonie.
Cette décision survient au moment où l’ONG internationale Mighty Earth lance la campagne #CarrefourNousEnfume appelant le géant français de la grande distribution à agir de toute urgence pour éliminer la déforestation et les atteintes aux droits humains de ses chaînes d'approvisionnement en cessant toute relation avec les négociants en viande et en soja aux pratiques dévastatrices.
De gauche à droite : activiste Gert-Peter Bruch Planète Amazone, Claude Gruffat, député européen Groupe Europe Écologie - Les Verts, Boris Patentreger, directeur France Migthy Earth, Michèle Rivasi, députée européenne Groupe des Verts/Alliance libre européenne et activiste d’Extinction Rébellion.
Le groupe Carrefour, leader de la grande distribution au Brésil, vient de suspendre ses livraisons de bœuf issu de deux abattoirs de JBS en Amazonie. Cette décision, en réaction au nouveau rapport de Mighty Earth, révèle que 2/3 des produits carnés inspectés dans les magasins Carrefour au Brésil sont fournis par JBS, et que certains d'entre eux proviennent d'élevages illégaux sur le territoire autochtone Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau, dans l'État de Rondônia. L’enquête porte sur 102 produits de bœuf distribués dans 6 supermarchés Carrefour au Brésil, dont 3 situés à São Paulo. L’enquête a aussi découvert que 12 produits proviennent de deux abattoirs de JBS dans l'État de Rondônia. Ces abattoirs sont liés à la déforestation illégale des territoires des Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau en Amazonie selon le Centre d’analyse pour les crimes climatiques (CCCA). L'entreprise brésilienne JBS, le plus grand transformateur de viande au monde, a été associée à maintes reprises à des pratiques de déforestation à grande échelle en Amazonie et dans d'autres biomes clés tels que le Cerrado et le Pantanal.
Cette suspension des relations commerciales du groupe Carrefour avec les abattoirs JBS du Rondonia s'inscrit dans le prolongement des mesures prises en décembre dernier par 7 enseignes de supermarchés européens qui ont décidé de cesser de s'approvisionner en bœuf auprès de JBS ou en bœuf brésilien, à la suite d'une précédenteenquête menée par Mighty Earth en collaboration avec Reporter Brasil.
Boris Patentreger, directeur France de Mighty Earth, déclare :
« Soyons clairs : cesser de s’approvisionner auprès de 2 abattoirs de JBS cela représente pour Carrefour 12% de sa viande de bœuf au Brésil, c’est un premier pas, mais le chemin reste long. Le bœuf distribué par Carrefour est toujours lié à une déforestation massive. Changer d'abattoir ne suffira pas pour protéger l'Amazonie quand JBS continue d'encourager la déforestation, l'accaparement de terres et la pollution climatique à grande échelle. Les conclusions de l'enquête montrent que les personnes les plus touchées par cette déforestation illégale sont les Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau, une population autochtone dont les terres ancestrales sont détruites et brûlées pour élever du bétail destiné aux abattoirs de JBS fournissant la viande de bœuf pour les rayons de Carrefour. »
La nouvelle campagne de Mighty Earth appelle Carrefour à :
- Rompre immédiatement tout lien avec les principales entreprises impliquées dans la déforestation et la destruction d’écosystèmes naturels, telles que JBS,Bunge et Cargill ;
- Interdire la déforestation maintenant, et non en 2035. À l'heure actuelle, Carrefour a aligné son objectif zéro déforestation sur celui de JBS, donnant ainsi à l'entreprise un permis de déforestation pour 13 années supplémentaires ;
- Adopter et mettre en œuvre immédiatement une politique claire « zéro déforestation, zéro conversion » qui améliore la transparence et la traçabilité de l'ensemble de ses chaînes d'approvisionnement en viande et en soja ;
- Définir des politiques claires pour exiger de la part de ses fournisseurs qu'ils réduisent leurs émissions de méthane et d'autres formes de pollution climatique, et qu'ils optent pour des élevages plus durables ;
- Augmenter les ventes de protéines végétales et d'alternatives à la viande dans le cadre d'un effort plus global visant à réduire fortement les ventes de viande pour atteindre au moins 15 % des ventes d'ici 2030 ;
- Renforcer le soutien de Carrefour en faveur d'un contrôle indépendant de la chaîne d'approvisionnement en viande au Brésil.
Contacts presse
Pascale Hayter
06 83 55 97 91
[email protected]
Marlyn Dufetrelle
06 70 13 16 91
[email protected]
Notes aux rédacteurs :
- Rapport CCCA sur la déforestation dans les territoires Uru Eu Wau Wau : https://climatecrimeanalysis.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/casino_case_-_english.pdf
- https://www.20minutes.fr/planete/3345215-20220902-feux-forets-bresil-pire-mois-aout-12-ans-incendies-amazonie
- Surveillance par satellite en temps réel des foyers d'incendie actifs par l'Agence spatiale brésilienne (INPE)
- The Territory, un nouveau film primé, tourné par le peuple autochtone Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau, relate leur combat pour préserver leur forêt natale. Visionner ici
Photos : https://www.divergence-images.com/laurent-hazgui/reportage-happening-carrefournousenfume-LH1555/
Egalement sur Pixpalace
Copyright : Laurent Hazgui / Mighty Earth 2022
À propos de Mighty Earth :
Mighty Earth est une organisation mondiale de plaidoyer qui œuvre pour la défense d'une planète vivante. Notre objectif est de protéger la moitié de la Terre pour que la nature puisse s'y épanouir, et de garantir un climat propice à la vie. L'impact de notre travail est pour nous une priorité et nous aspirons à être l'organisation environnementale la plus efficace au monde. Notre équipe a fait bouger les lignes en persuadant les principaux secteurs à réduire considérablement la déforestation et la pollution climatique dans leurs chaînes d'approvisionnement mondiales en huile de palme, en caoutchouc, en cacao et en aliments pour bétail, tout en améliorant les moyens de subsistance des communautés autochtones et locales des régions tropicales.
PROMISES, PROMISES! - Supermarkets response
In Mighty Earth’s recent soy report – Promises, Promises! – we found 27,000 hectares of deforestation which occurred on ten farms post 2020 in Brazil’s Cerrado savannah linked to major global soy traders – such as Cargill, Bunge, COFCO and LDC. It’s a shocking amount of deforestation in a critically threatened savannah and something major supermarket buyers should urgently act to stamp out. Key supermarkets have publicly committed to deforestation and conversion-free soy supplies with a cut-off date of January 2020 or earlier.
We sent our report to all members of the Retail Soy Group – who last year agreed on a Roadmap for zero-deforestation soy supplies – and urged them to investigate our claims and to drop any of their soy suppliers linked to this deforestation.
To date, Lidl and Migros have failed to respond to our research. Read the responses of the other supermarkets below:
La carne y los lácteos de los supermercados siguen vinculados a la deforestación prohibida
COMUNICADO DE PRENSA Lunes, 11 de julio de 2022
Las principales cadenas de supermercados Carrefour, Aldi, Lidl, Tesco y Sainsbury's siguen arriesgándose a vender productos cárnicos y lácteos relacionados con empresas que impulsan una enorme deforestación en Brasil, pese a que hace apenas unos meses la asociación sectorial que engloba a muchas de estas empresas, el Grupo de Minoristas de la Soja (Retail Soy Group, RSG), publicó una hoja de ruta en la que se pedía de forma inequívoca a las empresas asociadas que dejaran de realizar dichas compras vinculadas con la deforestación.
El Grupo de Minoristas de la Soja pretende apoyar el desarrollo de un mercado en el que la soja sostenible sea la norma. Este grupo representa a los supermercados Ahold Delhaize, Aldi South, Aldi North, Co-op (Reino Unido), Co-op Switzerland, Lidl, Marks & Spencer, Migros, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Tesco y Waitrose & Partners, y Woolworth's Group-Australia.
En respuesta al anuncio realizado por RSG en octubre de 2021 sobre la prohibición de las compras vinculadas a la deforestación, Mighty Earth llevó a cabo un análisis intensivo del cumplimiento por parte de las empresas de los pasos y compromisos clave que figuran en su propia hoja de ruta para la deforestación cero. El objetivo del análisis era proporcionar a los supermercados la información que necesitaban para cumplir con sus propios compromisos empresariales de actuar contra el cambio climático y acabar con la destrucción de los ecosistemas autóctonos.
El nuevo informe de Mighty Earth descubrió más de 27.000 hectáreas de deforestación reciente en plantaciones de soja en un solo ecosistema crítico -el Cerrado brasileño- sujeto a la prohibición de compra en base a dicho compromiso. Lo más importante es que la deforestación se produjo después de agosto de 2020, que es la fecha límite adoptada en la hoja de ruta de los supermercados. Nueve miembros del Grupo de Minoristas de la Soja -Ahold Delhaize, Aldi, Asda, Co-op, Lidl, M&S, Migros, Sainsbury's, Tesco, Waitrose y Woolworths- y otros minoristas como Carrefour adoptaron explícitamente políticas de no comprar soja, carne o productos lácteos vinculados a empresas relacionadas con la deforestación producida posteriormente a 2020.
Sin embargo, aunque los supermercados aceptaron las nuevas y alarmantes pruebas aportadas por Mighty Earth, hasta la fecha todos se han negado a cumplir sus propios compromisos alejando su negocio de las empresas de la industria cárnica vinculadas a la deforestación.
En la explicación de sus razones para negarse a actuar de forma coherente con la hoja de ruta en cuya elaboración había participado, un portavoz de Aldi Süd escribió a Mighty Earth para decir que, a pesar de las nuevas pruebas, "nuestro enfoque es comunicar a los comerciantes [de soja] la petición y las expectativas alineadas de muchos actores de la cadena de suministro y comprometernos con ellos sobre una base de confianza en lugar de excluirlos o avergonzarlos públicamente".
"Que Aldi afirme que confía en las mismas empresas que acaban de salir a la luz pública incumpliendo sus propios compromisos de la Hoja de Ruta es el colmo de la deshonestidad, la ingenuidad o ambas cosas", dijo Alex Wijeratna, director senior de Mighty Earth. "Basta de palabras huidizas. Estamos hablando de una situación que conlleva al ecocidio".
"La destrucción del ecosistema que se ha documentado en el Cerrado en relación con estos supermercados es sólo una pequeña parte de toda la destrucción de la que son responsables", dijo Wijeratna. "Sabemos que estos supermercados también tienen vínculos en la cadena de suministro con una amplia destrucción del ecosistema en Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay y las Grandes Llanuras de Estados Unidos también".
El Cerrado de Brasil es la sabana y la pradera arbolada más biodiversa del mundo y es el punto caliente mundial de la deforestación provocada por la producción de carne. La agricultura animal es el mayor impulsor de la deforestación, de la extinción de la vida silvestre y del desplazamiento de los pueblos indígenas, y causa más contaminación climática que todos los coches, camiones, barcos y aviones del mundo juntos.
"El Cerrado es el nuevo Amazonas en términos de deforestación desenfrenada vinculada a la industria cárnica. Supermercados como Tesco, Carrefour, Adli y Lidl deberían cumplir su propia hoja de ruta y abandonar inmediatamente su relación comercial con los conocidos destructores de los bosques", dijo Wijeratna.
El informe de Mighty Earth "¡Palabras, palabras!" (adjunto) descubrió que los cinco principales comerciantes de alimentos para animales, Bunge, Cargill, COFCO, LDC y ALZ Grãos, seguían comprando soja a los proveedores locales brasileños y a los megaconglomerados que habían talado y deforestado desde la fecha límite de agosto de 2020 al menos 27.000 hectáreas en diez fincas en el Cerrado. Se trata de un área mayor que la ciudad de Edimburgo en Escocia, o la mitad del tamaño de Chicago.
Basado en el análisis de imágenes satelitales, otros hallazgos clave del informe de Mighty Earth incluyen:
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Cada uno de los cinco principales comerciantes de soja tiene relaciones comerciales, bien directamente con las explotaciones agrícolas involucradas en la deforestación, bien con los grupos matriz (incluidos los megaconglomerados como BrasilAgro, SLC Agrícola y Condomínio Agrícola Estrondo).
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La magnitud de la destrucción es enorme. El caso más grave de deforestación identificado se produjo dentro del Condomínio Agrícola Estrondo en Bahía; la investigación descubrió que se desbrozaron más de 15.000 hectáreas después de la fecha límite de 2020. De ellas, más de 100 hectáreas fueron probablemente ilegales, en lo que debería haber sido la Reserva Legal protegida de la finca.
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Muchos otros casos fueron también significativos. La Fazenda Serra Grande de BrasilAgro, en Piauí, desbrozó más de 1.180 hectáreas de vegetación -el equivalente a 1.652 campos de fútbol- en un solo mes. La Fazenda Parnaíba de SLC Agrícola, en Maranhão, despejó 668 hectáreas - equivalentes a 935 campos de fútbol- de vegetación en seis meses.
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Deforestación en curso también se encontró en las fincas de los proveedores que aparecen en los informes Rapid Response de seguimiento de la deforestación publicados anteriormente por Mighty Earth, incluyendo SLC Agrícola, Estreito Agropecuária, Grupo Mizote y Grupo Tomazini. Los principales comerciantes de soja, Bunge, Cargill, COFCO, LDC y ALZ Grãos, siguen comprando a uno o varios de estos proveedores locales, a pesar de que Mighty Earth dio la alarma públicamente sobre la deforestación en sus explotaciones hace más de un año.
"Nos entusiasmamos cuando los supermercados por fin dieron un paso adelante y pasaron de pedir ineficazmente a la industria cárnica que detuviera la deforestación a finalmente comprometerse a hacer algo al respecto. Pero incluso ante la clara evidencia de la vasta destrucción de estos ecosistemas, parecen paralizados mientras Brasil arde. Dados los vínculos de su carne con la inmensa deforestación, los clientes deberían estar totalmente consternados por lo que estos supermercados están vendiendo", dijo Wijeratna. "Ya es hora de que los supermercados hagan algo de verdad, y no solo un lavado de imagen de su carne procedente de la deforestación".
La hoja de ruta del Grupo de Minoristas de la Soja fue muy clara sobre las medidas que deben tomar sus clientes: "Esta hoja de ruta presenta los principios y las prácticas que se necesitan urgentemente dentro del sector minorista para desempeñar su papel en la detención de la deforestación y la conversión, abordando así la crisis climática mundial y preservando los ecosistemas vitales de la Tierra, como el Amazonas, las Grandes Llanuras y el Cerrado", dijo en su comunicado de prensa de presentación de la Hoja de Ruta.
FIN DE COMUNICADO
Para más información, llamar:
- MilesGrant(PrensadeMightyEarth):[email protected],+1703-864-9599(m) - CarlosBravo(MightyEarthenEspaña):[email protected],+34626998241
Acerca de Mighty Earth
Mighty Earth (www.mightyearth.org) es una ONG internacional que trabaja para defender un planeta vivo. Nuestro equipo ha logrado cambios transformadores al persuadir a las principales industrias para que reduzcan drásticamente la deforestación y la contaminación climática a lo largo de sus cadenas de suministro mundiales de aceite de palma, caucho, cacao y piensos, al tiempo que a mejorar los medios de vida de las comunidades indígenas y locales en los trópicos y a movilizar miles de millones de dólares para energías renovables.
La viande et les produits laitiers des supermarchés toujours liés à la déforestation interdite
Analyse de la mise en œuvre du manifeste « pour un soja sans déforestation » par les supermarchés Européens
11 juillet 2022 – Un nouveau rapport de Mighty Earth qui sort aujourd’hui indique que les grandes chaînes de supermarchés comme Leclerc, Carrefour et Tesco risquent de vendre de la viande et des produits laitiers liés à des entreprises à l'origine d'une vaste déforestation au Brésil, et ce alors que ces entreprises ont signé avec le soutien du gouvernement un manifeste pour lutter contre la déforestation importée liée au soja. La déforestation est à un niveau record au Brésil et aucune entreprise ne met en place des actions à la hauteur des enjeux.
En réponse à la publication par la France en Novembre 2021 d’un nouvel outil d’évaluation des risques de déforestation liée aux importations de soja et à la signature d’un Manifeste "Pour un soja sans déforestation" signé par 9 distributeurs, 15 industriels et 1 fabricant d’alimentation animale, Mighty Earth a entrepris une analyse des pratiques des principaux importateurs de soja en France et en Europe en matière de lutte contre le changement climatique et de fin de la destruction des écosystèmes naturels.
Le nouveau rapport de Mighty Earth a révélé une déforestation récente de plus de 27 000 hectares sur des plantations de soja dans un seul écosystème critique - le Cerrado brésilien - soumis à l'interdiction d'achat mentionnée dans le manifeste. La déforestation s'est produite après janvier 2020. Pourtant selon les signataires du manifeste, il a été adopté des politiques visant à ne pas acheter de soja, de viande ou de produits laitiers liés à des entreprises impliquées dans la déforestation après 2020.
Avec d’autres ONGs, Mighty Earth a demandé aux signataires d’être conformes avec le manifeste "Pour soja sans déforestation" et d’exclure les entreprises non conformes avec les engagements. Comme cela a été fait dans le secteur de l’huile de palme et comme ils s’y sont eux même engagés, il a aussi demandé de publier l’origine du soja jusqu’au silo de stockage.
12 entreprises signataires sur 28 ont répondu au courrier. Elles évoquent la tenue d’une réunion de travail à venir à l’automne et leur implication pour travailler à la recherche de solutions avec les importateurs. Aucune d’entre elles n’a respecté ses propres engagements en se détournant des entreprises de l'industrie de la viande liées à la déforestation récentes.
Dans son explication pour justifier le refus de mettre en place ses propres engagements demandées en tant que signataire du manifeste soja, un porte-parole du groupe Leclerc a écrit à Mighty Earth pour dire que "Nous regrettons des délais de réponse aussi courts ainsi que le manque d’échange préalable pour traiter un sujet si complexe (…) Nous considérons qu’il vaut mieux instaurer une relation de confiance avec les importateurs pour les amener dans la bonne direction."
"Leclerc prétend faire confiance à des entreprises qui rompent les engagements du manifeste soja. C’est le summum de la malhonnêteté ou de la naïveté, ou des deux", a déclaré Boris Patentreger, directeur France de Mighty Earth. "En 2022, alors que la déforestation explose au Brésil, il faut agir et respecter ses propres engagements. Assez de mots ambigus et de perte de temps. Nous parlons d'écocide ici".
Le Cerrado Brésilien, qui est la savane et la prairie boisée la plus riche en biodiversité au monde, est le point chaud mondial de la déforestation due à la viande. L’élevage est le principal vecteur de déforestation, d'extinction de la faune sauvage et de déplacement des populations autochtones, et elle est à l'origine de plus d’émissions de GES que l'ensemble des voitures, camions, navires et avions du monde entier réunis.
"Le Cerrado est la nouvelle Amazonie en termes de déforestation rampante liée à l'industrie de la viande. Les supermarchés comme Leclerc, Carrefour et Tesco devraient être en conformité avec leur propre feuille de route et arrêter immédiatement de s’approvisionner auprès d’entreprises impliquées dans la destruction des forêts", a déclaré Boris Patentreger.
Le rapport de Mighty Earth intitulé "Vaines promesses !" a révélé que cinq grands négociants en aliments pour animaux - Bunge, Cargill, COFCO, Louis Dreyfus et ALZ Grãos - continuaient d'acheter du soja à des fournisseurs brésiliens locaux et à des méga-conglomérats qui avaient défriché et déboisé au moins 27 000 hectares sur dix exploitations du Cerrado depuis la date butoir de janvier 2020. Il s'agit d'une superficie de trois fois Paris.
Sur la base de l'analyse de l'imagerie satellitaire, voici d'autres conclusions clés du rapport de Mighty Earth :
- Chacun des cinq principaux négociants en soja entretient des relations commerciales soit directement avec les exploitations engagées dans la déforestation, soit avec les maisons mères (notamment les méga-conglomérats tels que BrasilAgro, SLC Agrícola et Condomínio Agrícola Estrondo).
- L'ampleur de la destruction est considérable. Le cas le plus grave de déforestation identifié s'est produit au sein de Condomínio Agrícola Estrondo à Bahía ; les recherches ont révélé que plus de 15 000 hectares ont été défrichés après la date butoir de 2020.
- Une déforestation continue a également été constatée dans des exploitations appartenant à des fournisseurs figurant dans les rapports de suivi de la déforestation publiés précédemment par Mighty Earth (Rapid Response) notamment SLC Agrícola, Estreito Agropecuária, Grupo Mizote et Grupo Tomazini. Les grands négociants en soja Bunge, Cargill, COFCO, Louis Dreyfus et ALZ Grãos continuent de s'approvisionner auprès d'un ou plusieurs de ces fournisseurs locaux, bien que Mighty Earth ait publiquement tiré la sonnette d'alarme sur la déforestation dans leurs exploitations il y a plus d'un an.
- L’enquête internationale révèle aussi que Bunge et Cargill sont respectivement les importateurs avec le risque de déforestation le plus important en 2021 avec respectivement 87 866 ha et 63701 ha.
Bunge particulièrement ciblé dans le rapport, est par ailleurs l’importateur principal de soja en France. Il s’avère par ailleurs, qu’il est celui ayant le plus augmenté ses capacités de stockage de silos dans les municipalités à risque de déforestation au Brésil, avec 110.000 tonnes entre 2019 et 2021. En même temps Bunge fournit de grands groupes de viande comme LDC, le géant français de la volaille qui fournit les marques distributeurs de volaille de la grande distribution en France.
"Nous étions enthousiastes lorsque les supermarchés se sont finalement engagés. Mais même face aux preuves évidentes d'une vaste déforestation de ces écosystèmes, ils semblent paralysés alors que le Brésil brûle. Étant donné les liens entre leur viande et la déforestation, les clients de ces enseignes devraient être totalement consternés", a déclaré M. Boris Patentreger. "Certaines actions émergent comme un premier cargo de soja non issu de la déforestation. Mais en 2022, alors que le Brésil brule, il faut en premier lieu couper tous les liens entre la déforestation, la viande et les produits laitiers."
À propos de Mighty Earth
Mighty Earth (www.mightyearth.org) est une organisation mondiale de défense d'une planète vivante. Notre objectif est de protéger la moitié de la Terre pour la nature et de garantir un climat propice à la vie. Nous sommes obsédés par l'impact et aspirons à être l'organisation de défense de l'environnement la plus efficace au monde. Notre équipe a réussi à transformer les choses en persuadant des industries de premier plan de réduire considérablement la déforestation et la pollution climatique tout au long de leurs chaînes d'approvisionnement mondiales en huile de palme, caoutchouc, cacao et aliments pour animaux, tout en améliorant les moyens de subsistance des communautés autochtones et locales sous les tropiques et en mobilisant des milliards de dollars pour les énergies propres.
Contact en France : Boris Patentreger, [email protected] - 0776074419
European Supermarkets fail to act on deforestation-linked soy
Major European supermarkets Tesco, Carrefour, Asda, Lidl and Sainsbury’s have been urged to drop key global soy companies after an investigation by Mighty Earth found over 27,000 hectares of deforestation on soy farms in the threatened Cerrado savannah in Brazil.
Less well known than the Amazon rainforest, Brazil’s tropical Cerrado is the world’s most biodiverse savannah and wooded grassland and it has become a global hotspot for soy and cattle-driven deforestation. Most of the soy-driven deforestation observed was used to produce soy animal feed. Meat is the world’s largest driver of deforestation, wildlife extinction, and displacement of Indigenous peoples.
Eleven members of the Retail Soy Group – Ahold Delhaize, Aldi, Asda, Co-op, Lidl, M&S, Migros, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Waitrose and Woolworths – and other retailers such as Carrefour with similar corporate policies promising to ban deforestation-risk soy after a 2020 cut-off date have been urged to investigate Mighty Earth’s findings and to immediately drop key soy traders linked to this new deforestation in the Cerrado.
Based on satellite imagery analysis, Mighty Earth’s new report Promises, Promises! found five major global soy traders Bunge, Cargill, COFCO, LDC and ALZ Grãos continued to buy soy from Brazilian suppliers and conglomerates who had cleared and deforested at least 27,000 hectares on ten farms in the Cerrado since after August 2020 cut-off. This is an area larger than the city of Edinburgh in Scotland, or half the size of Chicago.
"Major supermarkets like Tesco, Carrefour, Asda and Lidl should urgently investigate and then ban any soy company with proven links to deforestation,” said Alex Wijeratna, Senior Director at Mighty Earth
Read the full report:
Supermarkets’ Meat and Dairy Still Linked to Banned Deforestation in Brazil
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Press Release
Contact: Miles Grant, [email protected], + 1 703-864-9599 (m)
July 11, 2022 – Major supermarket chains Tesco, Carrefour, Aldi, M&S, Lidl and Sainsbury’s risk selling meat and dairy products connected to companies driving vast deforestation in Brazil just months after its own industry task force released a Roadmap that called unequivocally on member companies to cease such purchases.
In response to the October 2021 announcement on banning purchases linked to deforestation by the Retail Soy Group (representing supermarkets Ahold Delhaize, Aldi South, Aldi North, Co-op (UK), Co-op Switzerland, Lidl, Marks & Spencer, Migros, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, and Waitrose & Partners, and Woolworth’s Group- Australia), Mighty Earth undertook an intensive analysis of the companies’ adherence to the key steps and commitments outlined in their own zero-deforestation Roadmap. The intent of the analysis was to provide the supermarkets with the information they needed to adhere to their own company commitments to act on climate change and end the destruction of native ecosystems.
Mighty Earth’s new report "Promises, Promises" found over 27,000 hectares of recent deforestation on soy plantations in just one critical ecosystem – the Brazilian Cerrado – subject to the ban on purchases. Critically, the deforestation occurred after August 2020, the cut-off date adopted in the supermarkets’ Roadmap. Nine members of the Retail Soy Group – Ahold Delhaize, Aldi, Asda, Co-op, Lidl, M&S, Migros, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Waitrose and Woolworths – and other retailers such as Carrefour explicitly adopted policies not to buy soy, meat or dairy linked to companies connected to post-2020 deforestation.
However, while the supermarkets accepted Mighty Earth’s alarming new evidence, to date they have all refused to adhere to their own commitments by shifting business away from those meat industry companies linked to deforestation.
In its explanation of its reasoning for declining to act on the Roadmap that it had authored as part of the responsible working group, a spokesperson for Aldi Süd wrote to Mighty Earth to say that despite the new evidence, “Our approach is to communicate the aligned ask and expectations of many actors in the supply chain to the [soy] traders and engage with them on a basis of trust instead of excluding them or publicly shaming them.”
“Aldi claiming to trust the very companies that were just exposed breaking their own Roadmap pledges is the height of either dishonesty or naivete or both,” said Alex Wijeratna, Senior Director for Mighty Earth. “Enough with the weasel words. We’re talking about ecocide here.”
“The ecosystem destruction we found in the Cerrado connected to the supermarkets is just a fraction of what they’re responsible for,” said Wijeratna. “We know these supermarkets also have supply chain links to extensive ecosystem destruction in Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay, and the United States’ Great Plains as well.
Brazil’s Cerrado is the world’s most biodiverse savannah and wooded grassland and is the global hotspot for meat-driven deforestation. Animal agriculture is the world’s largest driver of deforestation, wildlife extinction, and displacement of Indigenous peoples – and causes more climate pollution than all the cars, trucks, ships, and planes in the world combined.
“The Cerrado is the new Amazon in terms of rampant deforestation linked to the meat industry. Supermarkets like Tesco, Carrefour, Adli and Lidl should adhere to their own Roadmap and drop known forest destroyers immediately,” Wijeratna said.
Mighty Earth’s report "Promises, Promises" found five major animal feed traders Bunge, Cargill, COFCO, LDC and ALZ Grãos continued to buy soy from local Brazilian suppliers and mega conglomerates who had cleared and deforested at least 27,000 hectares on ten farms in the Cerrado since after August 2020 cut-off. This is an area larger than the city of Edinburgh in Scotland, or half the size of Chicago.
Based on satellite imagery analysis, other key findings from Mighty Earth’s report include:
- Each of the five major soy traders has commercial relationships either directly with the farms engaged in deforestation, or with the parent groups (including mega-conglomerates such as BrasilAgro, SLC Agrícola and Condomínio Agrícola Estrondo).
- The scale of the destruction is vast. The most severe case of deforestation identified occurred within Condomínio Agrícola Estrondo in Bahía; research found more than 15,000 hectares were cleared after the 2020 cut-off date. Of this, more than 100 hectares were likely illegal, in what should have been the farm’s protected Legal Reserve.
- Many other cases were significant as well. BrasilAgro’s Fazenda Serra Grande in Piauí cleared more than 1,180 hectares of vegetation – equivalent to 1,652 football fields - in a single month. SLC Agrícola farm Fazenda Parnaíba in Maranhão cleared 668 hectares –equivalent to 935 football fields – of vegetation in six months.
- Ongoing deforestation was also found on farms owned by suppliers featured in Mighty Earth’s previously published Rapid Response deforestation monitoring reports; including SLC Agrícola, Estreito Agropecuária, Grupo Mizote and Grupo Tomazini. Major soy traders Bunge, Cargill, COFCO, LDC and ALZ Grãos continue to buy from one or more of these local suppliers, although Mighty Earth publicly raised the alarm about deforestation on their farms more than a year ago.
“We were excited when the supermarkets finally moved beyond ineffectually asking the meat industry to stop deforestation, and finally promised to do something about it. But even in the face of clear evidence of vast bulldozing of these ecosystems, they seem paralyzed as Brazil burns. Given their meat’s links to vast deforestation, customers should be totally appalled by what they’re selling,” Wijeratna said. “It’s time for the supermarkets to actually do something - other than greenwashing their meat.”
The Retail Soy Group Roadmap was very clear about what action its customers should take: “This roadmap presents the principles and practices that are urgently needed within the retail sector to play their part in halting deforestation and conversion thereby addressing the global climate crisis and preserving the Earth’s vital ecosystems, such as the Amazon, the Great Plains, and the Cerrado,” said the accompanying press release.
About Mighty Earth
Mighty Earth (www.mightyearth.org) is a global advocacy organization working to defend a living planet. Our goal is to protect half of Earth for Nature and secure a climate that allows life to flourish. We are obsessed with impact and aspire to be the most effective environmental advocacy organization in the world. Our team has achieved transformative change by persuading leading industries to dramatically reduce deforestation and climate pollution throughout their global supply chains in palm oil, rubber, cocoa, and animal feed, while improving livelihoods for Indigenous and local communities across the tropics, and mobilizing billions of dollars for clean energy.
Contact: Miles Grant, [email protected], + 1 703-864-9599 (m)
European Council Fails to Listen to EU Citizens on Deforestation
VICTORY: Mighty Earth Statement on the Cancellation of Japanese Coal Plant at Matarbari, Bangladesh
Yesterday, the Japanese government announced an end to their overseas coal finance, resulting in the cancellation of the Matarbari 2 coal power plant. The Matarbari 2 coal plant had been the symbol of Japan's failure to quit coal. The withdrawal of Sumitomo Corporation as lead contractor on February 28 after an intensive global campaign made the end of this project likely.
"This is an inspiring victory that brings Japan's era of overseas coal finance to an end. We celebrate that Bangladeshis will not have to suffer from the burden of air pollution, toxic mercury pollution and increased debt this plant would have caused," said Roger Smith, Japan Director for Mighty Earth. "Japan needs to hasten the retirement of existing coal plants at home and abroad without resorting to duplicitous technologies including biomass, hydrogen and ammonia that displace emissions to other countries rather than reduce them.”
Mighty Earth is a global advocacy organization that works to stop climate change and deforestation. In December 2019, Mighty Earth launched a global campaign demanding Sumitomo Corporation end its reliance on dirty coal and wood biomass. We worked in close collaboration with allies in Bangladesh, Japan and across the globe to press for the cancellation of this project and a rapid transition to clean, renewable energy.
Comment on Global Food & Biofuel Price Shocks
Indonesia sent shockwaves through the global markets for both food and fuel by banning exports of palm oil on April 28th. Those markets had already been roiled by Russia’s attack on Ukraine, a key producer of sunflower oil, as Mighty Earth Founder & CEO Glenn Hurowitz recently discussed with the BBC, and Indonesia’s move is widely viewed as a desperation move to calm political unrest fueled by rising domestic palm oil prices.
“For Indonesia, the sudden shortage – and high cost – of cooking palm oil is a classic example of a resource curse, as our economy depends too much on a single export commodity, giving far too much power to corporate palm oil exporters,” said Annisa Rahmawati, Senior Advisor at Mighty Earth. “Indonesia’s government should focus on supporting small farmers, helping the people who meet local needs rather than leaving our families vulnerable to marketand corruption crises.”
Many world governments looking to quit Russian oil & gas have looked to biofuels to increase supplies. But that’s only increased competition for food oil and pushed cooking oil prices higher.
“Big shocks like this expose how our governmental policies have totally failed to build resilience into our agricultural systems, leaving them brittle and unable to respond to crisis. These failures are now cascading down our supply chains and as a direct result, we see families from Southeast Asia to the Americas to Europe suffering from cooking oil and fuel shortages and price spikes,” said Mighty Earth’s Glenn Hurowitz. “The tragedy is that the entirety of the food price spikes from Russia’s war in Ukraine could be counteracted just by cutting in half biofuel mandates. It doesn’t make sense to keep burning food for fuel during this crisis."
Mighty Earth and its partners hosted a media briefing to talk about the impact of Indonesia’s refined palm oil export ban, as well as global bioenergy mandates.
Speakers included:
- Tenny Kristiana, Associate Researcher, International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT)
- Dr. Chris Malins, Founder of Cerulogy
- Tim Searchinger, Senior Research Scholar, Princeton School of Public & International Affairs. Tim is the author of a recent calculation that cutting just 50% of US and European ethanol use would effectively replace all of Ukraine’s grain exports, as well as the papers “The Ukraine Crisis Threatens a Sustainable Food Future" and “Europe’s Land Future?"
- Annisa Rahmawati, Indonesia Advisor, Mighty Earth.
Moderated by Glenn Hurowitz, Mighty Earth Founder and CEO
Media Contact: Miles Grant, [email protected], 703-864-9599 (m)
Unpacking Deforestation and Climate Change within Chocolate Scorecard
Dr Stephanie Perkiss
Stephanie Perkiss is a Senior Lecturer in Accounting at the University of Wollongong and explores social and environmental accounting and accountability in her research.
This blog post is one of a series linked to the publication of the 2022 Chocolate Scorecard company sustainability rankings. To view the 2022 Chocolate Scorecard please go to https://beslaveryfree.com/chocolate
When biting into a crunchy chocolate candy, many consumers don’t realise where the cocoa ingredients in their favourite treats come from, nor the costs that their production can have for nature and the climate.
West Africa produces 75% of the world’s cocoa, with Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana producing the lion’s share. In the last 60 years, these two African countries have lost around 94% and 80% of their forests respectively, with approximately one-third of that forest loss to make way for growing cocoa. Research published by Mighty Earth revealed that, in the period between January 2019 and January 2022 alone, Côte d’Ivoire lost 19,421 hectares (194.21 km2) of forest within cocoa-growing regions, while Ghana lost 39,497 hectares (394.97 km2) in cocoa regions. This amounts to a combined area equivalent to the size of the cities of Madrid, Seoul, or Chicago.
Many of the remaining tropical forests under threat in these two countries are within legally protected areas, providing critical habitat to endangered species like chimpanzees and pygmy hippos. They also contain vast stores of carbon, which if released could exacerbate global climate change. Forests absorb carbon, and when they die, they release carbon and no longer serve as a sink.
Amongst other indicators, the 2022 Chocolate Scorecard focuses on the extent to which individual companies are taking concrete steps to ensure that forests are not being cut down to provide them with cocoa. We analysed the responses to deforestation and climate change in the following areas based on best-in-class guidance (see AFI box)
- Application of no-deforestation policy to global sourcing, and percentage of cocoa purchased through a deforestation-free monitoring system;
- Percentage of cocoa sourced from deforested areas since 2010 when satellite monitoring systems became widely available;
- Percentage of cocoa sourced from actors who have been deforesting since the launch of the CFI in 2017;
- Detailed plans for how to respond to evidence of suppliers sourcing cocoa from recently deforested land; and
- 5. Policy to achieve net-zero carbon emissions company-wide; or using science-based targets.
Chocolate Scorecard survey results
The highest score of the deforestation and climate change theme went to Alter Eco and Beyond Good. There were several others in the ‘green’ or top scoring category: Chocolats Halba, ECOM, Ferrero, Nestlé, and Olam. All these companies have undertaken efforts that put them at the top of the pack, relative to their peers. The lowest scores for deforestation and climate change went to Daito Cacao, Glico and Morinaga. These companies did, however, respond to the survey and have endeavoured to engage on deforestation and climate. This sets them apart from General Mills, Starbucks, and Storck who did not participate in the survey – and who appear (based on a review of their publicly available material) to be worryingly behind on many sustainability metrics including those for their cocoa when it comes to forests/climate – remain at the rock bottom.
Grading for the deforestation and climate change theme was tough. For many questions we were looking for specific and verifiable data – usually figures and percentages with links so they can be publicly verified. While many of our companies were great at narrative accounts, some key figures were missing.
We will start with what was done not so well:
- Satellite monitoring – We would like to see more companies purchasing cocoa from locations that are verified deforestation-free, using a satellite monitoring system. Even better, if companies started using the available technology that forecasts (quite accurately) where deforestation will happen, this could stop deforestation in their cocoa supply chains before it takes place. While many companies are starting to do monitoring, imagine how good it would be if all companies reached 100%, and then actually used the monitoring to curb forest destruction in their supply chains!
- Deforestation mapping - We gave special attention to deforestation and purchasing from the two largest cocoa producing countries, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. Many companies could not provide details on cocoa they had sourced from areas deforested since 2010 (at which point, accurate and free satellite mapping of forests was easily accessible to all); or again after November 2017 (at which point Cocoa & Forests Initiative (CFI) was signed, wherein all major companies and the governments of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana pledged to end deforestation and start mapping). We appreciate that this data can feel confusing at first, especially if companies have only recently begun mapping. But, without mapping and understanding one’s deforestation, pledges will remain empty words.
- Verifiability - In the survey, we awarded points where respondents provided reference to their data/figures, which can be independently checked. In several instances, citations and URLs were not provided and grades were not given, such as for a few companies who failed to provide evidence of a time-bound plan for working with suppliers and smallholders to map farms using GPS.
- Transparency is important - Public transparency in relation to deforestation and climate change is important, so we have urged participating companies to keep publicly sharing their sustainability initiatives and achievements. This allows civil society to follow the old adage: trust, but verify.
Now, onto what was done well:
- Monitoring systems - Most of the companies we surveyed have some form of monitoring system. However, most of these remain incomplete or even deeply flawed. For example, satellite mapping is rarely connected to an alert system that trigger field investigations in the places identified as having deforestation. It also seems almost no company is using deforestation forecasting, although this now exists for Côte d’Ivoire and for many geographies with a variety of tools. There were some standouts: Beyond Good used both satellite imagery as well as on-the-ground monitoring and went further than its peers. Beyond Good established a high-quality Deforestation Dashboard as a deforestation monitoring system.
Source: Beyond Good’s mapping tool.
- Collaboration to eradicate deforestation - Many of the participating companies have joined the ‘Cocoa & Forest Initiative’ (CFI) and/or Initiatives for Sustainable Cocoa (ISCOs). ISCOs refer to public-private platforms for sustainable cocoa now existing in a number of countries including Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, The Netherlands, France and Japan. Most ISCOs include a focus on deforestation in cocoa, and help shape collaborative efforts to eradicate deforestation from consumer countries, as CFI does in producer countries. While it is great to see a lot of companies joining CFI and ISCOs, we are finding similar themes - that there is still a lot to making these collaborative efforts truly work. Joining is only one step. Collaborating for robust group efforts to promote change, is key. Merely joining does not obviate a need for companies to continue their individual work on deforestation and climate change, nor their need to invest in conservation and restoration.
- Deforestation-free policies - It was great to see that most of our participants had gone beyond CFIs to embrace a global deforestation-free cocoa policy, or even a cross-commodity deforestation-free policy (for some or all regions they source from). It shows that companies in this industry are trying to take seriously the issues of deforestation and climate change in their supply chains.
- Public grievance systems and noncompliance policies - Most Scorecard participants have established both public grievance mechanisms, and noncompliance policies. In most cases these are not deforestation-specific, but cover the entire supply chain, including social and environmental indicators. However, full points on this front were only given when public grievance mechanisms were easily accessible and user-friendly, and where non-compliance policies establish clear consequences for deforestation, including suspension.
- Net-Zero carbon emission - We see major positive change with some key cocoa/chocolate companies embracing the SBTi’s Corporate Net-Zero Standard. Points were awarded for joining SBTi’s race to zero. While some of the commitments show a low-ambition target of 2050, others have better timetables focused on 2030. In future grading of deforestation and climate change, we will be looking specifically at the actions companies are taking to reach these targets and whether companies have signed up for SBTi.
A note on CDP, which some cocoa/chocolate companies flagged. We think CDP is providing a valuable service in promoting transparency for investors and nudging companies to be more explicit with the types of data and analysis they report. However, there is uneven public access to CDP disclosures. Best practice in the cocoa space could mean that companies opt to submit forest disclosures to CDP, and also post a copy of their disclosures to their company website so it can be verified.
A tip for next year’s Chocolate Scorecard!
Despite progress, some companies are still at risk from sourcing cocoa associated with legal and illegal deforestation. Legislation has been proposed by the European Union to regulate deforestation in high-risk commodities such as cocoa, and similar regulation is also proposed for other jurisdictions such as the United Kingdom, United States of America, New York State, the State of California, and more. It is worth noting that many chocolate companies have spoken out courageously to support due diligence and deforestation-free regulations in recent years. A public statement supporting regulation in your home country or regions where you sell chocolate will help gain you a better score in future years.
There are many different roads that lead to better policy and action on deforestation and climate change. For example, Ferrero scored a ‘Green’ because it has now joined others in purchasing 100% certified volumes, and this comes on top of its considerable company-specific efforts around deforestation and climate. However, taking a different path, Mars scored well with only about half of its cocoa being certified, but performing far better when it comes to a serious company-wide, commodity-wide approach to slashing overall emissions with a time-bound implementation plan.
Another pathway to points was, for example, clear criteria on what it takes to suspend a non-compliant supplier caught with deforestation problems (as opposed to wishy washy criteria or no criteria). Yet another pathway consists of rapid and largescale improvement, with the key to points being speed and scale of change. So, we tried to recognize that what is “good” in the case of deforestation and climate change can be very different. We’re agonistic so long as companies are on a meaningful road, and not a bridge to nowhere.
Overall, we see lots of potential for continued growth in policy, monitoring, and action in relation to deforestation and climate change, but this is not a bad place to be, at least for the higher-performing companies in this category!
Investors and supermarkets urged to drop JBS aftershock rise in its climate emissions
The full Mighty Earth’s report on JBS titled The Boys From Brazil can be found here:
English
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The world’s largest meat company, JBS, has increased its greenhouse gas emissions by a staggering 51% over the last five years and is now responsible for greater emissions than Italy’s annual climate footprint, new research finds.
A coalition of campaign groups – including the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), Feedback and Mighty Earth – have expressed outrage at JBS’s supersized climate emissions, which place it at odds with its own corporate emissions reduction strategy just one year on from its ‘Net-Zero by 2040’ pledge.
Ahead of the company’s annual general meeting (AGM) in São Paulo tomorrow, the coalition urges JBS’s investors and customers to drop the Brazil-based company. JBS’s top investors include Brazilian development bank BNDES, asset manager BlackRock, and Barclays and Santander banks. Its major customers in the retail sector include supermarket giants Carrefour, Costco, Tesco, Walmart and Ahold Delhaize. Its customers include McDonald’s, Burger King, and KFC in the fast-food sector.
Using an UN-approved methodology, new research contained in a media brief by IATP, Feedback and investigative website DeSmog, found that JBS – which processed 26.8 million cattle, 46.7 million pigs and 4.9 billion chickens last year – increased its annual GHG emissions by 51% in five years from 280 million metric tonnes (mmts) in 2016 to around 421.6 mmts in 2021. This is more than the annual climate footprint of Italy or Spain and close to that of France (at 443 mmt) and the UK (at 453 mmt). It is approximately equivalent to fossil fuel giant Total’s 2020 emissions.
The latest UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment report has singled out livestock-related methane emissions, recommending they be slashed by a third by 2030 to hold global temperature rise to 1.5ºC. Instead, JBS’s emissions are set to jump even higher as it pursues aggressive expansion plans and seeks access to increased financing through a possible listing on an American stock exchange.
“It’s mind-blowing that JBS can continue to make climate claims to investors, even as the company massively increases its emissions,” said Shefali Sharma, Europe director of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, which estimated in 2018 that JBS’s emissions were roughly half that of oil majors such as BP, Shell or ExxonMobil. “Our updated emissions estimates show clearly the harm being done by empty net-zero announcements. This greenwash shouldn't fool investors gathering at today's AGM. We need public, independent and accountable systems for monitoring these companies’ emissions. Governments need to step up and regulate these companies and support a transition out of this destructive model of industrial livestock production.”
With operations in 20 countries ranging from Brazil to the US and record annual revenues of $76 billion, JBS last year promised to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040. However, its net-zero plans provide little detail and have been panned by campaigners for omitting so-called ‘Scope 3’ emissions, representing up to 97% of JBS’s contribution to climate change. Scope 3 emissions encompass pollution from its entire supply chain: potent greenhouse gases such as methane emitted from livestock, as well as emissions from deforestation, forest fires, and land conversion, plus the production of animal feed, enteric fermentation, and the use of agrochemicals.
Carina Millstone, Executive Director of campaign group Feedback, said: “It's high time that banks and investors, many of whom have adopted their own 'net-zero’ targets and committed to ending deforestation, ceased to bankroll climate chaos and the destruction of nature, by pulling the plug on their financial backing to toxic JBS and its subsidiaries.”
Hazel Healy, UK Editor of climate investigative news outlet DeSmog, said: “JBS is using the same greenwashing tactics employed by oil and gas majors for decades. It presents itself as a company with genuine climate ambition but fails to disclose its full emissions so they can be compared with the company’s public communications. And as this research shows, JBS’s emissions are increasing substantially, not decreasing.”
Launched alongside IATP’s JBS emissions revelations, a new report about the company by Mighty Earth – called The Boys From Brazil – highlights how JBS used corruption and massive government subsidies to finance the enormous international growth into the climate super-polluter category in which it finds itself today.
The report highlights that JBS was responsible for an estimated 1.5 million hectares of deforestation in its indirect supply chains in Brazil since 2008 and warns that scandal-hit JBS has repeatedly broken its promises to stamp out deforestation in the Amazon or conserve other key ecosystems such as the Cerrado and the Pantanal. It also chronicles a long history of links to elite bribery, price-fixing, invasion of Indigenous lands, worker exploitation, modern-day slavery, and environmental pollution.
“JBS is one of the world’s worst climate offenders, and that’s why we’re urging its key customers like giant supermarkets Carrefour, Costco and Tesco to drop JBS urgently,” said Alex Wijeratna, Campaign Director at Mighty Earth. “No company that buys meat from JBS can claim to be serious about climate change. JBS could easily implement systems that would end its links to deforestation and radically reduce its methane pollution. The fact that a single meat company can cause more pollution than an entire G7 member country should be a wake-up call that we need a massive scale-up of plant-based and cultivated protein, and we need it now.”
Contact:
- Shefali Sharma, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), [email protected], Tel: +49 177 146 9613; Ben Lilliston, IATP in the US, Tel: +1 612 870-0453 x3416
- Natasha Hurley, Feedback, [email protected], Tel: +44 7585 663648
- Rich Collett-White, DeSmog, [email protected], Tel: +44 7805 887695
- Alex Wijeratna, Mighty Earth, [email protected] + 44 01753 370 823
Notes for editors:
- The full DeSmog, IATP and Feedback joint media briefing on JBS’s emissions and climate greenwash:
https://feedbackglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/JBS-media-briefing-20april_embargoed.pdf - Mighty Earth’s new report on JBS titled The Boys From Brazil can be found here:
https://www.mightyearth.org/wp-content/uploads/JBS-report-V11-1.pdf - Mighty Earth's new report can also be found in French and Spanish.