Protect Latin American Forests

Washington DC, January 17, 2023 — Senior executives at Mighty Earth have filed a whistleblower complaint to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), calling for a full investigation into alleged misleading and fraudulent “green bonds” issued by the Brazilian meat giant JBS. 

Evidence presented to the SEC details how JBS, the world’s largest meat processor with operations in over 20 countries, issued $3.2 billion in four separate debt issuances or “green bonds” in 2021, referring to them as Sustainability-Linked Bonds (SLBs) tied to its stated goal to cut its emissions and achieve “Net Zero by 2040.”  

The launch of Mighty Earth’s new Cocoa Accountability Map for Ghana comes as the organisation reveals forest loss in the country remains stubbornly high, despite pledges by the Ghanian government and the chocolate industry to reduce cocoa-driven carbon emissions and forest loss. Read more

Mighty Earth calls for urgent action from UK retailers & government to end deforestation. It follows film screening and panel event highlighting threats to Amazon’s Indigenous communities from meat & soy trade

L'Amazonie est en train de brûler. Début juillet, les dernières données officielles sur la situation au Brésil alertent sur le fait qu’au cours des six derniers mois, la déforestation en Amazonie brésilienne a atteint son taux le plus élevé depuis des années, avec près de 3 750 kilomètres carrés de forêt qui ont été détruits. Dans le Cerrado brésilien, il n’y a jamais eu autant d'incendies depuis 2004. D'autres pays d'Amérique latine ont connu des catastrophes similaires cette année. La quasi-totalité de cette déforestation est liée à l'industrie de la viande. La chaîne d'approvisionnement de Carrefour à la fois leader de la grande distribution au Brésil et distributeur majeur au niveau mondial, probablement plus qu’aucune autre.

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.

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.  

Over recent years, the practice of agroforestry has been gaining momentum in cocoa production, as farmers recognise the importance of protecting their land to mitigate the risks posed by climate change and experience the benefits of mixed cropping for their food and livelihood security.  

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defines agroforestry as: “(…) a dynamic, ecologically based, natural resource management system that, through the integration of trees on farms and in the agricultural landscape, diversifies and sustains production for increased social, economic and environmental benefits for land users at all levels”. 

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. 

Mighty Earth has published a new report which highlights that 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.

Que contient réellement notre chocolat de Pâques ? Une coalition mondiale de défenseurs de l'environnement et de la justice sociale publie aujourd'hui The Chocolate Scorecard ou évaluation du chocolat, une enquête annuelle qui examine les progrès, ou l'absence de progrès, de l'industrie du chocolat dans la résolution des problèmes sociaux et environnementaux découlant des pratiques de l'industrie du cacao et des produits chocolatés qu'elle vend. La coalition de 29 membres est composée, entre autres, de Be Slavery Free, Mighty Earth et National Wildlife Federation.

Sebuah Investigasi terbaru dikeluarkan hari ini oleh Environmental Paper Network (EPN), Mighty Earth, Pusaka, Solutions for Our Climate (SFOC), Korean Federation for Environmental Movement (KFEM) and Advocates for Public Interest Law (APIL) merincikan perusakan hutan alami di provinsi terpencil tanah Papua, Indonesia. Surga dari keanekaragaman hayati, budaya masyarakat adat, dan tangkapan karbon ini sedang dihancurkan untuk memproduksi serpihan kayu pembuatan kertas yang dicap sebagai produk yang lestari dan beretika kepada konsumen di seluruh dunia.

A new investigation released today by Environmental Paper Network (EPN), Mighty Earth, Pusaka, Solutions for Our Climate (SFOC), Korean Federation for Environmental Movement (KFEM), and Advocates for Public Interest Law (APIL) details the devastation of pristine forests in the remote province of Papua land, Indonesia. 

Cargill’s announcement today that it is “scaling back” its Russian business activities and stopping investment is a “step in the right direction.” Still, Cargill now needs to pull out entirely, according to Ukrainian and global conservation leaders.

Plus de quatre ans après le lancement très médiatisé de l’Initiative Cacao et Forêts (ICF), les principaux pays africains producteurs de cacao sont toujours confrontés à la destruction de vastes zones forestières au profit des plantations de cacao, indique une nouvelle analyse de données réalisée par Mighty Earth. Petites douceurs : Le secteur du chocolat n’a pas tenu sa promesse de mettre fin à la déforestation dans ses chaînes d’approvisionnement en cacao, révèle que, même après la publication des plans de mise en œuvre par le secteur, la Côte d’Ivoire a perdu 19 421 hectares de forêt au sein des régions productrices de cacao, et le Ghana 39 497 hectares. En additionnant ces chiffres, on obtient une superficie équivalente à celle des villes de Madrid, Séoul ou Chicago. 

On Wednesday, meat giant JBS issued a billion-dollar “sustainability-linked” bond. In response, Mighty Earth CEO and Founder Glenn Hurowitz said: “This bond is probably the greatest bastardization of the term ‘sustainability’ in financial history, and that’s saying something.”

Today, UK food industry titans, including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, McDonalds, Nando’s, Nestle and KFC will launch the UK Soy Manifesto, which aims to ensure that all physical shipments of soy to the UK are ‘deforestation and conversion-free’.  

This could be ground-breaking. Major European supermarkets have committed to remove suppliers who fail to meet a no deforestation rule. Now the question becomes whether this coalition of some of the world’s largest retailers will actually implement this commitment, or try to pull a bait and switch on their customers.

Mighty Earth has exposed a new threat to the rarest great ape on the planet, and the world is watching. The critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan of northern Sumatra was just identified in 2017 and fewer than 800 exist in the world, but satellite imagery from the past two weeks shows their habitat being eaten away by deforestation.

Mighty Earth is deeply concerned that natural rubber has been excluded from the European Commission’s forthcoming anti-deforestation law to tackle EU-driven deforestation and ecosystem loss. Due for release in December 2021, the EC’s proposed new supply chain anti-deforestation law will apply to a list of key Forest and Ecosystem Risk Commodities (FERCs) – which until recently was anticipated would cover key known forest-risk commodities[1], including natural rubber.

Au premier semestre 2021, la déforestation en Amazonie a augmenté de 17 % par rapport au premier semestre 2020. Alors que la saison sèche s’ouvre au Brésil, le nombre d’incendies dépasse déjà celui de l’année dernière à la même période. Ces chiffres laissent présager de nouveaux records d'incendies au Brésil cet été. Face à ce désastre environnemental, climatique et social, la France reste passive.

Britain’s largest supermarket chain, Tesco sells a lot of meat – hundreds of millions of chickens a year alone. This month, Tesco produced a new set of requirements for its meat suppliers to try and address the massive environmental consequences of those meat sales, starting with the soy-based animal feed used to fatten chicken, pigs and cows for its own-brand meat and dairy offer.

Mighty Earth and Stand.Earth partnered together to undertake preliminary cocoa supply chain research to improve our understanding of how cocoa enters the U.S.—the biggest chocolate market in the world. Though the results confirm a lot we know already, some new revelations are stunning. Our findings uncovered a damning story of the action of a few dominant traders, the secrecy in cocoa/chocolate imports, an international web of opaque cocoa-laundering, and a cover-up of corporate value captured from poor producer countries.

A row has erupted between NGOs and the rubber industry following lobbying by the EU tyre and rubber industry association to the European Commission, pressing for natural rubber to be excluded from forthcoming new EU due diligence regulations designed to stamp out deforestation, ecosystem loss and human rights abuses in key global commodity supply chains.  

Now is the time for the global economy to move from an extractive view of nature, where nature is seen as an ‘externality’ with a value of zero until mined or logged to a more regenerative view.  Like all life on earth, including orangutans, humans depend on the ecosystem services provided by natural processes and yet they do not appear in our balance sheets. 

Ce matin, une dizaine de militants de l’ONG Canopée se sont rendus dans l’agence BNP Paribas du boulevard Sébastopol à Paris où ils ont déclenché une alarme incendie afin d’alerter sur la responsabilité de la banque dans les feux de forêts au Brésil.

Two of the world’s most famous recreational parks – Central Park in New York and Hyde Park in London – could be razed and transformed into huge new industrial rubber plantations under a proposed $1billion ‘Green bond’ application submitted today by environmental campaign group Mighty Earth.

On June 10, 2021, Mighty Earth, Equitable Cambodia, and Inclusive Development International sent an open letter to Peugeot, a global automobile brand. Despite new leadership and a strong commitment to sustainability, Peugeot has repeatedly refused to publicly condemn land grabbing and environmental damage perpetuated and caused by a subsidiary of their business partner, Truong Hai Auto Corporation (THACO).

Rubber agroforestry has multiple benefits for smallholder farmers, biodiversity, and the environment.

Our hearts go out to the families of the people who have been killed or injured in this tragic disaster.

Poll: 88% of Tesco Customers Believe Supermarkets Shouldn't Do Business with Deforesters

The world's top supermarket and fast-food companies are largely ignoring the environmental and human rights abuses caused by their beef products.

Between 2017 and 2021, 600 civil society leaders and Bolivian organizations signed El Pacto del Bosque. Today they are joined by more than 20 international organizations that agree on the urgent need to find real solutions to stop the alarming deforestation rates in Bolivia

The paltry scope of JBS's latest pledge demonstrates the need for us to keep the pressure on.

A bond tied to widespread, deliberate, and undisclosed industrial deforestation should not be labeled "sustainable."

Mighty Earth has been campaigning for years to hold these ADM and Bunge accountable for stopping deforestation and is calling on ADM and Bunge’s Board to immediately implement the practices necessary to address concerns brought forth by these shareholder proposals.

Today, Mighty Earth joined with a number of civil society organizations to call on Congress and the Biden-Harris administration to "pass legislation to prevent agricultural commodities produced on illegally deforested land from entering the U.S. market and establish due diligence requirements on relevant commodity imports."

Indigenous peoples from the Brazilian and Colombian Amazon and non-governmental organizations from France and the US today filed a lawsuit in the Saint-Etienne court against global retail giant Groupe Casino over selling beef products linked to deforestation and land grabbing.

“This is the fourth straight year that palm-oil deforestation has been at a fraction of historic levels, and trending down,” said Glenn Hurowitz, CEO of the environmental nonprofit, Mighty Earth.

Nach monatelangen Gesprächen enthält das am 13. Februar verkündete Kompromiss-Gesetz keine strengen Sorgfaltspflichten zur Vermeidung von Umweltauswirkungen wie Abholzung oder Zerstörung von bedrohten Lebensräumen für Wildtiere. Es gilt nur für Berlin – Die deutsche Regierung hat sich auf einen Kompromissvorschlag geeinigt, der große deutsche Firmen dazu zwingen soll, ihre Lieferketten zu untersuchen, um sicherzustellen, dass sie weltweit keine Menschenrechte verletzen.

Soy and beef are two of the largest drivers of deforestation in the world, particularly in the biodiverse-rich regions of Cerrado and the Amazon in Brazil.

Three of the biggest US grocery chains sell Brazilian beef produced by a controversial meat company linked to the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, an investigation has revealed.

Ending deforestation is our best chance to conserve wildlife, one of the quickest and most cost effective ways to curb global warming, and absolutely crucial to prevent the next deadly, global pandemic.

Sign the petition: $2.5 billion to build back better, stop new outbreaks and stop the COVID-19 catastrophe from repeating itself.

The lawsuit is part of an alarming worldwide trend in which powerful interests, including corporations or high-profile individuals, file lawsuits designed to harass and drain substantial resources from smaller watchdog organizations, activists, journalists, trade unions, media organizations, and those who represent the public interest.

Mighty Earth strongly condemns the series of online attacks perpetrated over the last days against the investigative journalism NGO, Repórter Brasil, that caused its website to crash and were followed by a demand to suppress investigative reports.

The question is not if, or how, Brazilian farmers can sustainably produce soy and be paid for their efforts. Instead, the question is: when will soy traders take advantage of the opportunity before them and provide a sustainable future for Brazilian farmers.

Mighty Earth had launched a Soy & Cattle Deforestation Tracker, a unique monitoring system that links mega-farms responsible for large-scale deforestation and land clearance in the Brazilian Amazon and Cerrado to major soy traders and meatpackers.

Today, 32 environmental NGOs in Japan and overseas, including Mighty Earth, released a joint statement calling on Japan to stop biomass power generation with large-scale imported fuels.

After two years of status quo or incremental progress – often led by French industry and NGOs – it is urgent that the government finally act decisively.

Almost all supermarkets in France – Carrefour, Casino, Auchan, Lidl, Metro, Système U, Mousquetaires and Leclerc – have announced measures to end the use of soy produced on deforested land.

A new video calls on major corporations to protect forests to help prevent the next global pandemic.

Today, the UK government introduced its Environment Bill “to clamp down on illegal deforestation and protect rainforests.” The Bill would require greater due diligence from businesses on sourcing standards, with a focus on removing illegal deforestation from supply chains. In response to the Bill, Robin Willoughby, Mighty Earth UK Director, released the following statement...

NGOs set out the measures to be adopted by banks, insurers and investors to force traders to change their practices and ensure "zero deforestation" of soya

The European Parliament has adopted a legislative initiative report urging the European Commission to propose a strong law to ensure products sold in the Union are deforestation-free and don’t cause human rights abuses.

Urgent action is needed to stop deforestation in the Amazon, protecting the livelihoods of Indigenous Peoples and the keeping the Amazon from ecosystem collapse due to decades of destruction.

World's largest tire company seeking millions from investors to restore forest that its own business partner destroyed.

Nature doesn't recognise the difference between legal and illegal deforestation.

Palm Oil Industry Should Resist Legislative Rollback of Deforestation Restrictions

The latest in a long line of JBS public commitments without follow-through.

New York Times report, public announcements by major companies highlight risks to Indonesia’s economy

Agroforestry is a step closer to a sustainable transformation in the natural rubber sector.

Video: Mighty Earth's Etelle Higonnet was the opening speaker at Earthworm Foundation's recent webinar, "How the cocoa industry can stop deforestation."

Mighty Earth joins with NGOs representing millions of Europeans to ask for radical change to align farm subsidies with the European Green Deal.

The only way these companies will change their practices is if the grocery stores that people trust – Metro, Costco, Casino, and Ahold Delhaize stores like Giant, Food Lion, and Stop & Shop – stop buying from the arsons of the Amazon.

A renewed effort to reduce deforestation, halt unsustainable fishing practices, clamp down on waste plastics, eliminate environmentally harmful subsidies, and accelerate the transition towards sustainable food production systems and circular economies.

The Indonesian government must recognize and take preventative action against the threat that forest and land fires pose in compounding the public health risks of COVID-19, urged more than 500 medical professionals in open letter published on September 24.

An international coalition of associations is calling on the Casino Group to take all necessary measures to exclude beef from deforestation and grabbing of Indigenous territories in its supply chains in Brazil, Colombia, and beyond.

Assessing the sustainability efforts of six of the largest soy traders.

Tell the EU Commission corporations shouldn't be allowed to sell products that drive deforestation

As severe and sweeping in impact as the Amazon deforestation crisis is, it is also avoidable.

Mighty Earth recently hosted a webinar for the launch of our Cocoa Accountability Map 2.0 as part of our effort to trigger a transparency and traceability revolution in the cocoa sector.

Ahold Delhaize, Casino, Metro, and others must immediately cancel or renegotiate contracts with the companies driving the destruction of the Amazon

An analysis by Mighty Earth mapping and supply chain experts has found that Cargill’s accounting methods are both grossly inaccurate and intentionally misleading.

The Voice Network’s newly published paper, "Agroforestry in the Cocoa Sector: A Need for Ambitious Collaborative Landscape Approaches," introduces key insights for that transformation.

Reports indicate that Grieg Seafood has excluded Cargill Aqua Nutrition from its $92 million green bond over concerns about Cargill's role in environmental destruction in Brazil.

All companies receiving bailout funds should be committed to the European Green Deal, the Paris Agreement, and to achieving net zero carbon neutrality by 2025. Businesses seeking EU bailout support should also have robust policies and practices in place that recognize and ensure workers' rights throughout their supply chains.

Global coalition calls on CGF to take ambitious, immediate action to protect forests, the climate, and human health

Mighty Earth has joined 119 other NGOs to publish a policy paper advising the EU to put an end to gag lawsuits. Gag lawsuits, also known as Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation.

Action is necessary to stop the bulldozing of the Amazon and the killing of Indigenous people

Their customers - and the world - expect these brands not just to call for action, but to act.

Samling scrambles to adopt sham policy to keep customers while destroying rainforests

In the midst of a global crisis, the meat industry continues to pack people and animals into factories, fueling the spread of the current pandemic and making the next one more likely.

Mighty Earth signs on to a landmark Open Letter calling on G20 leaders to ensure the current coronavirus global crisis spurs countries to champion recovery solutions that spur economic activity and accelerates the transition to low-carbon economies.

Watch a webinar on the link between deforestation and pandemics, the value of nature-based solutions in preventing future pandemics, and the role of private sector and regulatory agencies in driving ambitious action to protect forests in 2020.

Mighty Earth has joined calls to ensure the European Union’s coronavirus financial bail out and national Sustainable Recovery Plans that delivers a greener and more socially and environmentally just recovery.

This webinar brought together experts to speak to the link between deforestation and pandemics, the value of nature-based solutions in preventing future pandemics, and the role of private sector and regulatory agencies in driving ambitious action to protect forests.

EU should publish its new "Farm to Fork" strategy to transition European agriculture towards a greener, healthier future.

Mighty Earth names top polluters exploiting the pandemic to weaken environmental protections and grab subsidies and identifies “climate heroes” doing the right thing in time of crisis

An update on our plans and priorities as we navigate the Coronavirus pandemic

South Korea's largest trading company, POSCO International, has published a long-awaited zero deforestation policy for its global palm oil operations.

A free press is essential to creating the transparency and accountability necessary for both responsible governance and environmental stewardship

French President Emmanuel Macron has named Mighty Earth's Etelle Higonnet a Chevalier of France’s Ordre national du Mérite

Successful implementation is a less likely outcome than another pained acknowledgement that they will fail to meet the goal

Solving the climate crisis requires the leadership to not only advance solutions but to also reject false ones

Yesterday, protesters gathered outside an event where Cargill CEO David MacLennan was speaking. One of those protesters has contributed a guest blog post about the experience:

The same economic forces that drive destruction of the Amazon and Cerrado also trample on the rights and the lives of the Indigenous peoples who live there

FSC report shows Korindo Group destroyed over 30,000 hectares of rainforest in the past 5 years while systematically manipulating and underpaying indigenous landowners

Brands can continue sourcing from Cargill, or they can maintain a reputation as environmental leaders -- but they can't do both.

Nobody doing business with Cargill and JBS can credibly say they are concerned about deforestation

Concerned citizens across six continents – from Hong Kong to Washington and Paris to Pretoria – will take action for the Amazon by protesting the ongoing fires and deforestation.

New analysis from Mighty Earth shows the incentives for the Amazon's destruction come from international agribusinesses like JBS and Cargill.

As the Amazon continues to burn at a record rate, Mighty Earth CEO Glenn Hurowitz has released a statement.

Deforestation in Brazil reached a record high in May of this year, and it’s possible that 2019 will be one of the worst years for deforestation within the country.

New government data shows that 1,345 sq km of the Brazilian Amazon have been cleared in the month of July alone, an area greater than the city of Los Angeles. In response to this announcement, Mighty Earth CEO Glenn Hurowitz released a statement.

At this point, it’s irresponsible to take Cargill at their word. Cargill should be judged on implementation, not commitments.

New report documents US-based agribusiness giant's "ineptitude and incoherence at a grand scale."

"Cargill continues to prioritize the deforesters in its supply chain over the climate or their customers' sustainability demands."

"Just because government isn’t doing its job doesn’t mean the job doesn’t have to be done."

It can be tempting to ignore the news entirely – studies have shown that people will stop paying attention to stories of misery and suffering when situations seem hopeless. But we cannot afford to tune out now.

WRI’s data has helped drive home the immense scale of deforestation. But despite the size of the problem, there are clear successes in the works and much more to accomplish. The data published in this year’s report will help inform our future efforts and provides valuable insight as the fig

Following the public launch of Mighty Earth’s Rapid Response Monitoring System, Mighty Earth hosted a webinar detailing how the new system works and our long-term plans for the project. The webinar was presented by Glenn Hurowitz, CEO, Mighty Earth; Deborah Lapidus, Southeast Asia Director, Mighty Earth; and Leo Bottrill, Founder & CEO, Maphubs.

The Batang Toru dam would permanently disrupt the habitat of the Tapanuli orangutan and would contribute to the first extinction of a great ape – our closest cousins in the animal kingdom – in all our recorded history.

"We are hopeful that we will be able to soon praise Cargill not just for promises, but for action."

TESTING TESTING

Mighty Earth publicly launched its Rapid Response monitoring system aimed at eliminating deforestation linked to the palm oil, soy, rubber, cocoa, paper, and cattle industries.

Join us this month to fight for chocolate that's good for people and the planet, with a different action each day on our Advent Calendar.

Responding to mounting pressure from local communities impacted by its pollution, investors, customers, and the environmental community, Tyson Foods has announced a commitment to improve farming practices on two million acres of grain by 2020.

In the past month, two of the world’s largest meat sellers announced commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from their supply chains. Many of the practices driving the sector’s climate impacts are also causing widespread water contamination, particularly from excess manure and fertilizer pollution washing off fields that grow feed.

It’s Easter. The holiday season is chock-full of scenes of celebration: bunnies, decorations, and eggs. And chocolate. Lots of chocolate. The week surrounding Easter has the highest consumption of chocolate in the year.  

A new investigation by Mighty Earth, Rainforest Foundation Norway, and Fern reveals large-scale deforestation, fires, and human rights abuses in Argentina and Paraguay’s Gran Chaco connected to the global meat industry.

Burger King is serving hamburgers raised on soy from deforestation. Their burgers are putting the habitat of animals like sloths and jaguars at risk. Tell Burger King to protect the sloth and grow food without threatening Nature.

Mighty Earth joined with The Korea Federation for Environmental Movements (KFEM), Korea’s largest environmental NGO, at a rally in Gwanghwamun North Square in Seoul, South Korea on Monday, July 31st, to demand that the Korean conglomerate POSCO Daewoo stop destroying Indonesian rainforest on its palm oil plantation in Papua.

New research shows that cocoa is driving ongoing deforestation in other regions of the world, from Asia to the Amazon. Mighty Earth undertook mapping of cocoa-producing regions in four countries outside of West Africa and found a high risk of deforestation in various cocoa-producing areas.

Frustrated shareholders submitted a resolution at Tyson Foods’ annual meeting pushing Tyson to address the egregious pollution driven by the company’s operations and supply chain.

Bridgestone Tires, the world’s largest tire and rubber company commits to protecting rainforests that are critical habitat for wildlife like gibbons, orangutans, tigers, and elephants, as well as addressing labor and human rights abuses.

The UK’s largest drugstore retailer, Boots, reports that it has ended a retail partnership with POSCO Daewoo, following a letter sent by Mighty Earth to parent company Walgreens Boots Alliance.

The World Resources Institute (WRI) moderated a meeting between Mighty Earth and Olam on January 17th 2018, to discuss progress on commitments made by both parties at a similar meeting in January 2017, related to Olam’s plantations in Gabon and its Palm Products trading business.

61 leading meat, dairy and soy companies and retailers announced today their support for the Cerrado Manifesto, a pledge to eliminate clearance of native vegetation in the Brazilian Cerrado for large-scale agriculture.

It’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day here in the United States, when we try to rededicate ourselves to Dr. King’s values, and attempt to live up to his example of courage and love.

Mighty makes major progress towards transforming the chocolate and meat industries.

Global tire giant Pirelli, a major user of natural rubber, has released a sustainable rubber policy that promises to protect people and forests by banning deforestation, land grabbing, and labor abuse.  

After a bitter past, the chocolate industry is off to a sweet new start when it comes to protecting forests, as it agreed today to end deforestation for cocoa in West Africa.

I’m Hannah and I’m 10 years old. I live in Manchester, England. And here is how Mighty Earth inspired me to try and spread the word.

The Cerrado Manifesto, a commitment announced today by 23 major meat retailers and consumer goods companies, could represent the beginning of the end of deforestation for soy in Latin America.

It’s a shame that Pruitt is backing away from his agency’s proposal to reduce biodiesel levels. We don’t agree with the EPA on much of anything, but we did agree on this.

In 2017, Mighty Earth partnered with MapHubs to map deforestation linked to Cocoa in Côte d’Ivoire. Leo Bottrill and Kris Carle, MapHubs’ Founders, explain through six maps how this was possible.

A new Mongabay investigation into the supply chains of major Britsh retailers including McDonalds, Tesco, and Morrisions, buy from Cargill which raises their poultry on imported soy directly linked to deforestation in Bolivia and Brazil.

Deforestation is continuing across Indonesia because of rogue companies that are attempting to evade these new environmental and social requirements on a vast scale...

New satellite mapping of Papua, Indonesia - home to the third largest rainforest in the world - shows that the Korean conglomerate POSCO Daewoo has continued to rapidly clear large areas of the rainforest for palm oil production at its palm oil plantation called PT Bio Inti Agrindo (PT BIA).

Une nouvelle enquête menée par Mighty Earth et intitulée L’amère déforestation du chocolat, révèle qu’une quantité importante du cacao avec lequel Mars, Nestlé, Hershey, Godiva et d’autres grandes marques fabriquent leur chocolat est cultivée illégalement dans des parcs nationaux et des aires protégées en Côte d’Ivoire et au Ghana.

A new investigation by Mighty Earth, “Chocolate’s Dark Secret,” finds that a large amount of the cocoa used in chocolate produced by Mars, Nestle, Hershey’s, Godiva, and other major chocolate companies was grown illegally in national parks and other protected areas in Ivory Coast and Ghana.

Environmental NGO Mighty Earth and consumer group SumOfUs announced victory today as Samsung declared that it has no plans to pursue a joint venture or any business with the Korean-Indonesian conglomerate, Korindo. The announcement comes on the heels of a two-month intensive online campaign calling on Samsung to drop the joint venture.

The Australian NGO Markets for Change and Mighty Earth launched a campaign this week targeting News Corp Australia over its ties with rainforest destroyer Korindo. The organizations distributed parody newspapers of News Corp’s Australian properties The Courier Mail (“The Courier Fail”) and The Australian (The Not Australian).

The Australian NGO Markets for Change and Mighty Earth launched a campaign this week targeting News Corp Australia over its ties with rainforest destroyer Korindo. The organizations distributed parody newspapers of News Corp’s Australian properties The Courier Mail (“The Courier Fail”) and The Australian (The Not Australian).

Mighty and Korea Federation for Environmental Movements (KFEM) release video showing how a year of citizen action around the world is creating pressure to stop the Korean-Indonesian conglomerate Korindo’s destruction of “the Land of the Tree Kangaroo”

On August 9th, leaders from Papuan indigenous communities hosted a press conference in Merauke in honor of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples and timed with the first Papuan Film Festival which focused on the theme of indigenous rights and environmental sustainability.  

Mighty Earth joined with The Korea Federation for Environmental Movements (KFEM), Korea’s largest environmental NGO, at a rally in Gwanghwamun North Square in Seoul, South Korea on Monday, July 31st, to demand that the Korean conglomerate POSCO Daewoo stop destroying Indonesian rainforest on its palm oil plantation in Papua.

Conservation NGO Mighty Earth and Olam International have completed a 5 day series of meetings and visits in Gabon as part of their agreement, announced in February 2017, to move forward on models for responsible agricultural development in highly forested countries.

Last week, Ecology Minister Nicolas Hulot laid out France’s new “climate plan” which includes greater efforts to protect the world’s tropical rainforests in the Amazon, West Africa, and Southeast Asia.

UNESCO “strongly urges (Poland) to immediately halt all logging and wood extraction in old-growth forests,” stated the World Heritage Committee in Kraków last week.

Samsung’s phones are not the only thing in their business catching on fire.

Between January and May 2017 over 30,000 trees have been cut down in the UNESCO World Heritage Site, one of Europe’s largest remaining old-growth forests, by the Polish Government’s State-owned logging company

Burger King released new environmental commitments today following a joint campaign by Mighty Earth, Union of Concerned Scientists, Rainforest Foundation Norway, and SumOfUs.

Mighty Campaign Director Deborah Lapidus contributes foreward on palm oil for a new academic journal focused on key environmental issues in Asia, called EnviroLab Asia.

POSCO Daewoo, Korea’s largest trading company, operates a 34,195 hectare palm oil plantation located in the Ulilin district in Merauke, Papua, Indonesia called PT Bio Inti Agrindo (PT BIA). PT BIA just released its first “Environmental and Social Report” for 2016.

This month BNP Paribas, the world’s seventh-largest financial institution, announced a new palm oil policy that sets responsible palm oil production as a pre-condition for financing. The policy requires that companies receiving financing protect forests and indigenous people.

The animal feed used to raise German livestock is driving deforestation across Latin America, according a new analysis by environmental group Mighty Earth.

Cargill and Bunge Caught Destroying the Equivalent of 10,000 Football Fields for the Global Meat Trade

Mighty Earth has submitted a complaint today to the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), a global sustainable forestry certification body, regarding agribusiness Korindo’s deforestation activities.

You’ve liked, shared, commented and rallied. Here's what else you can do to stop deforestation in Latin America.

Today, the world’s largest chocolate makers met with the Prince of Wales to discuss solutions to the chocolate industry’s biggest problem: the destruction of rainforests to make way for large-scale chocolate production.

Look at inspiring photos of the Brazilian environmental youth activist group in action.

In the wake of Mighty Earth’s Ultimate Mystery Meat report, soy traders Bunge and Cargill are facing escalating pressure for supply chain reform from their customers, investors, and the public around the globe.

From White Plains, New York to Austin, Texas, conscientious consumers stood together to protest Burger King’s lack of any meaningful sustainability policy.

Des analyses satellites, des vidéos captées par des drones et des entretiens sur le terrain témoignent des répercussions énormes de la production mondiale de viande sur les écosystèmes d’Amérique latine

Astra Agro Lestari, Indonesia’s second largest palm oil company, has failed to address several key gaps in implementing its sustainability policy that were identified in an assessment by several Indonesian and international NGOs last September.

A new report, released today by Mighty Earth and Rainforest Foundation Norway (RFN), details findings of an investigation into Burger King and two major soy producers found in its supply chain, Cargill and Bunge.

New York Times reporter Hiroko Tabuchi exposed extensive deforestation in Bolivia and Brazil. It was the most emailed story this weekend.

Under the agreement, Olam agreed to suspend deforestation for palm oil and rubber, and also apply the industry-standard High Carbon Stock approach to its third-party suppliers (the agreement doesn’t apply to commodities other than palm oil and rubber, such as cocoa and coffee, areas we are continuing to investigate).

Mighty Earth and Olam agreed to move forward on two imperatives after their meeting in Washington, D.C.

Campaign Director Deborah Lapidus was on Australian network ABC today speaking about Korindo's devastating impact on West Papua.

Weeks after its moratorium, Korindo’s PT Papua Agro Lestari concession in the Indonesian island of Papua carved out plantation “blocks” on approximately 1,400 hectares of forest, an activity also known as “stacking”, which is the final step of land development prior to forest clearing.

A new report details Samling's crime-ridden palm oil operations in Malaysia, just another in a long line of abuses by the company.

With rainforest destruction and forced labor urgent concerns in palm oil cultivation, a diverse group of NGOs and investor organizations releases today shared guidance for corporate reporting on company commitments towards responsible palm oil sourcing and production.

Korindo has recently taken the positive step of announcing land clearing moratoria for all of its palm oil operations, following discussions with its global customers. However, critical questions remain about how Korindo plans to enforce and independently verify adherence to its moratorium.

On Tuesday, organizers in seven cities gathered at their local Burger King to protest the burger giant's deforestation for soy. Below is the press release for the rally in Miami, Florida.

Activists from the Korean Federation for Environmental Movements (KFEM) and Wahli (Friends of the Earth Indonesia) held a solidarity action late last month in Bandar Lampung, Indonesia against deforestation by agribusiness giant Korindo.

Today, Olam has cracked open its black box to the light of day. However, important questions remain about their sourcing.

A new report released today by Mighty and Gabon-based NGO Brainforest reveals that Olam, one of the world’s leading agribusiness traders, is operating a secretive palm oil trading operation.

Last week, Amnesty International released a report documenting abuses of palm oil plantation workers in Indonesia. Amnesty shed light on abuses that are still widespread throughout the palm oil industry despite a raft of commitments, certifications, and laws that prohibit these practices.

For the sake of the 44,600 hectares of forest remaining in the concessions covered by the moratorium, we at Mighty hope that Korindo follows through on this commitment. But even if it does cease deforestation in these areas, Korindo needs to take many other actions before being considered responsible.

It’s time to breathe a big sigh of relief that the light at the end of the tunnel is near. The two groups today announced an agreement that will bring all the standards together, following a year-long convergence process.

Notorious driver of deforestation Korindo isn't just a palm oil company. Ironically, the Korean-Indonesian conglomerate is also a wind tower manufacturer.

Although a member of Korindo’s field technical staff admitted at a press event that his company does indeed use illegal fires to clear land for its oil palm plantations, the Korindo corporation now publicly asserts that it does not use this dangerous practice.

Following the launch of our “Burning Paradise” report on Korindo, which prompted the Indonesian government to announce a major investigation and garnered widespread media coverage, Mighty team members Bustar Maitar and Deborah Lapidus traveled to South Korea to participate in a speaking and media tour.

One year ago, Astra Agro Lestari (Astra), the second largest private palm oil grower in Indonesia, adopted a new, ambitious No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation policy. However, a new report shows that, one year in, the implementation of Astra’s sustainability policy leaves much to be desired.

Dampak kesehatan masyarakat terhadap kabut asap di Equatorial Asia pada September-Oktober 2015: menampilkan kerangka baru untuk menginformasikan strategi penanggulangan kebakaran untuk mengurangi paparan dari asap yang terbawa angin

Previously, governments and companies in the region provided repeated claims that that fewer than two dozen deaths were recorded. This study reveals the truth. This research shows that haze kills, it kills across borders, and it kills on a massive scale.

With stunning images, our inaugural report, "Burning Paradise," documented how the Korean-Indonesian conglomerate Korindo had engaged in systematic illegal burning of rainforest in Papua. Following the press conference, the Indonesian government announced that it would follow up with its own investigation into Korindo’s deforestation and burning.

A groundbreaking new investigation released today reveals new satellite, photographic, and video evidence of massive deforestation and illegal burning of pristine rainforest by the Korean-Indonesian corporation Korindo, to support establishment of its palm oil plantations on the Indonesian provinces of Papua and North Maluku.

Scientists estimate that a forest the size of Indiana will be cut down to plant rubber trees over the next eight years. Michelin, the world’s largest buyer of natural rubber, says the deforestation has to stop and it’s pledging to go green.

Burger King is serving hamburgers raised on soy from deforestation. Their burgers are putting the habitat of animals like sloths and jaguars at risk. Tell Burger King to protect the sloth and grow food without threatening Nature.

The Indonesian government has stepped up its efforts to fight haze caused by deforestation, but is the private sector doing its part?

IOI Group was suspended from the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, and instead of cleaning up its act has decided to file a lawsuit. We asked consumer companies to make a commitment to no longer source from IOI Group and its processing arm IOI Loders Croklaan. See where some of the biggest global companies stand on responsible palm oil sourcing.