Recognising the important role of agricultural commodities to address climate change as well as achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, notably promoting economic development, reducing poverty, underpinning food security and improving the livelihoods of billions of people;

 

Recognising also the shared responsibility of the agri-commodity sector, including traders, processors, manufacturers, retailers and consumers, as well as governments;

 

We, ten global companies with a combined annual revenue of almost 500 billion USD and a major global market share in key commodities such as soy, palm oil, cocoa and cattle, have a shared commitment to halting forest loss associated with agricultural commodity production and trade.

 

We recognize that significant progress has been made, but this progress must be accelerated and scaled-up to support global efforts in reaching net zero emissions globally by 2050, halting biodiversity loss, and providing sustainable livelihoods.

 

So we intend to build on our shared efforts, working with governments, farmers, and other key stakeholders in our supply chains, to accelerate sector-wide action and to identify opportunities for public-private collaboration to catalyse further progress on eliminating commodity driven deforestation.

 

By COP 27 we will lay out a shared roadmap for enhanced supply chain action consistent with a 1.5 degrees Celsius pathway, that supports achievement of our goals, and increases collaboration and implementation in areas including: enabling policy environments, transparency on scope 3 emissions and indirect supply chains, and improving livelihoods for farmers.    

 

Signatories:

• Mr. Juan Luciano, ADM
• Mr. Judiney Carvalho, Amaggi
• Mr. Gregory Heckman, Bunge
• Mr. David MacLennan, Cargill
• Mr. Wei Dong, COFCO International
• Mr. Franky Oesman Widjaja, Golden Agri-Resources
• Mr. Gilberto Tomazoni, JBS S.A
• Mr. Michael Gelchie, Louis Dreyfus Company B.V.
• Mr. Marcos Mulina, Marfrig
• Mr. Sunny Verghese, Olam International
• Mr. David Mattiske, Viterra
• Mr Kuok Khoon Hong, Wilmar International

With support from the Tropical Forest Alliance, housed by World Economic Forum

The signatories wish to share the following comments about their commitments and progress to date:

ADM: ADM is fully committed to ending deforestation, and to preserving biodiversity and water resources in our supply chains. This includes holding our suppliers accountable for producing commodities in ways that do not further deforestation in order to reduce impact on climate change. We believe that sustainable, ethical and responsible production by the food industry is critical for curbing global warming, conserving native biodiversity, and upholding the rights of indigenous communities and smallholders. We aim to eliminate deforestation from all of our supply chains by 2030.

 

Amaggi: Facing the challenges related to land-use change for greenhouse gas emissions, AMAGGI is committed to having a 100% tracked and monitored grain chain, free from deforestation and native vegetation conversion to agricultural production by 2025, considering all its operations globally. AMAGGI has currently one of the most advanced traceability systems in its sector and has already achieved 99% of zero deforestation and conversion within the tracked chain in 2020-2021, in addition to being the world leader in socio-environmental certifications in the soy chain.

 

Bunge: Bunge is committed to finding tangible solutions to address climate change, in both our operations and across our supply chains. Among the most critical efforts is our focus on preserving vital landscapes and rainforests in regions where we source from. In 2015, Bunge made a public global commitment to reach deforestation-free supply chains worldwide by 2025, covering direct and indirect sourcing – the most ambitious at our scale in the sector. Additionally, Bunge has been a founder and active member of leading industry associations and platforms to find practical solutions to common sustainability challenges. Our collective action with partners in both the public and private sectors has led to positive results, and the progress toward our goals has been significant. We are confident that this is the right approach as we continue with our purpose of connecting farmers to consumers to deliver essential food, feed and fuel to the world. Learn more about Bunge’s commitments and progress at bunge.com.

 

Cargill: Cargill is making progress toward reducing our – and our customers’ – emissions across the supply chain and building climate resilience in agriculture. Together with farmers, we’re working diligently to deliver our science-based climate commitments while developing new markets for carbon, revitalizing landscapes through regenerative agriculture and grazing practices, and protecting forests and their surrounding ecosystems.

 

COFCO International: COFCO International is committed to working with partners throughout our value chain to promote concrete actions that address the challenges of climate change and build farmers’ capacity to produce food in a way that respects nature and improves their livelihoods. The progress we make on our sustainability journey enables our business and stakeholders to thrive, while nourishing the needs of future generations. Since 2019, our financing facilities are linked to our sustainability performance and traceability, and more recently to the social and environmental assessments of commodities in areas of risk. Together with our partners, we are advancing deforestation-free soy production by participating in several sector-wide initiatives including WBCSD’s Soft Commodity Forum and ‘Coalizão Brasil Clima, Florestas e Agricultura’. Meanwhile, our participation in landscape initiatives such as PCI in Brazil’s Mato Grosso State is supporting concrete sustainable agriculture projects. We also actively engage our suppliers in low carbon projects, for instance through our joint project with IFC – World Bank in Matopiba.

 

Golden Agri-Resources: Golden Agri-Resources and the palm oil industry have made substantial progress towards no deforestation. These actions help store large amounts of carbon. We see climate action as a priority, and support the Government of Indonesia in achieving FoLU carbon net sink by 2030 as well as Indonesia’s commitment to reach net zero by 2060. By signing the Corporate Statement of Purpose, we commit ourselves to a 1.5C trajectory and encourage others to take similar action.

 

JBS: JBS, which committed to become Net Zero by 2040, already has zero tolerance for deforestation. The company’s geospatial monitoring system uses satellite imagery to check farms against socioenvironmental criteria in every Brazilian biome where it operates. In order to guarantee this same control over the suppliers of its suppliers, JBS has set up its Transparent Livestock Farming Platform, which uses blockchain technology for security and confidentiality. By 2025, JBS won’t buy from producers who are not part of this platform.

 

Louis Dreyfus Company: As a global merchant and processor of agricultural goods, Louis Dreyfus Company is committed to helping shape increasingly fair and sustainable food and agricultural production chains. As part of this, we are working in collaboration with customers, suppliers, peers and other value chain stakeholders toward traceable, low carbon and deforestation-free supply chains. We are doing this by leveraging technologies such as satellite monitoring, blockchain and others for traceability, developing projects and initiatives to drive decarbonization across our global operations and supply chains, and engaging farmers – the heart of agricultural production – to find shared solutions to common challenges at landscape level.

 

Marfrig: We are absolutely committed to contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and, consequently, to the mitigation of climate change risks. Marfrig was a pioneer, in the animal protein segment, to include supply chain monitoring and reduction of methane gas emissions in its goals related to scope 3. Our public commitment is to have a 100% deforestation-free production chain by 2030. But, more than tracing and announcing goals, Marfrig is taking its plans off the ground, by establishing partnerships that reinsert producers, ensuring a truly sustainable production.

 

Olam: Now more than ever, it is vital to take action to protect our natural environment, people and communities. Sustainable development and economic growth is not a binary choice. Addressing climate change, deforestation and conserving natural resources cannot be dissociated from improving farmer livelihoods, strengthening health, water and sanitation, education and prosperity in rural communities. Coming together to take collective action will enable us to build on our progress to protect forests and landscapes, and advance traceability in supply chains, in order to strengthen and accelerate action to combat the largest global environmental challenges we face.

 

Viterra: Viterra wants to demonstrate leadership by continuously monitoring our impact on the environment and communities in which we operate, and to reduce our impact where possible. We have a goal to eliminate deforestation in our supply chains and look after valuable and protected areas. We are seeking to work collaboratively with other industry participants to achieve this goal which requires cooperation along the supply chain from producers through to consumers. These collective statements and actions give us the best opportunity to make the necessary progress to see agriculture make meaningful changes to emissions and environmental sustainability.

 

Wilmar: In line with our No Deforestation, No Peat and No Exploitation (NDPE) commitments, Wilmar International is currently preparing to align our climate goals with a 1.5-degree pathway by COP27. We are developing comprehensive targets to reduce our negative climate impacts from our value chain. This includes reducing emissions in our own operations and supply chains, addressing deforestation, halting biodiversity loss and improving livelihoods for farmers and smallholders within these climate-smart production models. These additional comprehensive targets will add to our existing climate related achievements which include achieving an overall 24.4% reduction of GHG emissions intensity for our palm oil mills in FY2020 from our FY2016 baseline, and achieving 56% energy from renewable sources in our FY2020 total group energy consumption.

 

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