Nonprofit ClientEarth claims the grain trader fails to do adequate due diligence on the soy it sources from threatened rainforest and savanna.
(Bloomberg) — The commodities giant Cargill Inc. is facing a legal challenge over its failure to ensure its soy supply chain is not driving deforestation in Brazil.
Cargill, the largest private company in the US with revenues last year of $165 billion, has failed to ensure the soy it sources in Brazil’s tropical rainforests and savanna does not contribute to deforestation, the environmental law nonprofit ClientEarth alleged in a complaint filed Thursday under the guidelines of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
“As one of the largest soy traders sourcing from Brazil, Cargill should be leading the world’s best practice to stop soy linked to deforestation and human rights abuses from flooding the global food market. Instead, its poor due diligence raises the risk that the meat sold in supermarkets across the world is raised on so-called ‘dirty’ soy,” Laura Dowley, a lawyer for ClientEarth, said in a press release. The nonprofit accused Cargill of breaking the OECD’s guidelines on responsible business conduct.
Cargill has previously pledged to ensure its soy from the Amazon and the Cerrado biome is deforestation-free by 2025, and to eradicate deforestation entirely by 2030.
A spokesperson for the company said in a statement: “In line with Cargill’s unwavering commitment to eliminate deforestation in South America, we do not source soy from farmers who clear land in protected areas and have controls in place to prevent non-compliant product from entering our supply chains. If we find any violations of our policies, we take immediate action in accordance with our grievance process.”
The nonprofit says it found “significant gaps” in Cargill’s policies and that the company did not do as much due diligence on the soy it sourced from the Cerrado savanna as it does in the Amazon, and none on soy sourced from the Atlantic Forest. It also alleges that Cargill does not carry out proper checks on soy bought from third-party traders rather than directly from farmers.
Agricultural expansion means the Amazon is approaching a “tipping point” after which it will turn into dry grassland and become a source of carbon rather than a sink, adding to the urgency of the complaint, scientists have warned.
The US National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises will now decide whether the claim has merit.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.