In the first part of the analysis, we identified deforestation between January and July 2023 occurring in case studies from the Chain Reaction Research (CRR) since 2014, the Rapid Response (RR) between 2020 and 2021, and the Realtime Deforestation Monitoring System (RDM) since 2022.
In the identified CRR, RR and RDM case studies potentially linked to Cargill’s palm oil operations (Indonesia) and soy operations (Brazil), we detected 1,380 hectares of deforestation between January and July 2023.
In addition, another 4 new RDM cases reported 9,550 hectares of deforestation between July 2022 and June 2023, potentially linked to Cargill’s operations in the Amazon and Cerrado biomes in Brazil.
The second part of this analysis considers the municipalities in Brazil from which Cargill sourced most of its soy and cotton exports. We ranked the top 5 Brazilian municipalities in Cargill’s soy exports in 2020 and cotton exports in 2017. Considering a radius of 100km from Cargill’s warehouses or silos in or close to these municipalities, we calculated deforestation between January and June 2023 in private properties with either soy or cotton cultivation in 2021.
In its top 5 soy and cotton sourcing municipalities in Brazil, Cargill is exposed to 38,800 hectares of deforestation (overlap of 2,180 ha from RDM 14 case Fazenda Novale) potentially linked to soy or cotton cultivation in a 100km radius from its assets on the ground.
In 2014, Cargill expanded its zero-deforestation commitment to all commodities, committing to making its global supply chains deforestation-free by 2025.
Part 1 – Palm Oil (CRR)
Recent deforestation in Palm oil Concessions linked to Cargill’s operations in Southeast Asia
Among the analysed CRR cases published between 2014 and 2023, Cargill is potentially linked to deforestation in Palm Oil concessions of 17 companies in Southeast Asia. Analysing recent deforestation from GLAD Alerts, we found 1,138 hectares of deforestation in different concessions of 12 of these companies.
Part 1 – Soy (RR & RDM)
Deforestation linked to soy in Brazil
Considering all cases published in reports from the RR and the RDM initiatives since 2014, we found 34 cases potentially linked to Cargill’s soy operations in Brazil. At the time of the reports, these cases covered 48,913 hectares of deforestation in Amazon and Cerrado biomes. Cargill had confirmed trading links with 14 of these cases.
In an updated analysis and considering data from Mapbiomas Alertas from January and July 2023, we found 244 hectares of deforestation linked to 3 of these cases.
In addition, there were 4 new case studies of deforestation linked to soy supply chains identified by recently published RDM reports that are potentially linked to Cargill’s operations in the Amazon and Cerrado biomes in Brazil. These recent cases cover 9,549 hectares of deforestation between June 2022 and May 2023.
The table below lists previous RR and RDM cases potentially linked to Cargill, where we found recent deforestation (between January and June 2023) and 4 new RDM cases with recent deforestation and potentially linked to Cargill soy operations in Brazil).
Part 2 – Soy and cotton
Cargill’s top 5 sourcing municipalities of soy (2020) and cotton (2017) are all in the Cerrado biome. For the analysis of Cargill’s deforestation-risk exposure, we considered Cargill’s warehouses in or close by these 8 municipalities (Formosa do Rio Preto, in Bahia, and Sapezal, in Mato Grosso, are both among the top 5 sourcing municipalities of soy and cotton).
Below are the top 5 Cargill’s sourcing municipalities of soy (2020) and cotton (2017), the total of Cargill’s exports in tons and the proportion to the total Cargill’s export of these two products according to the Trase database.
For calculating Cargill’s deforestation-risk exposure, we first considered an area within a 100 km radius of Cargill’s warehouses “in” and “close to” the listed top 5 Cargill’s soy and cotton sourcing municipalities. Second, we considered deforestation from the Mapbiomas Alertas platform happening between January and June 2023, falling ONLY in properties with cotton or soy plantations according to Mapbiomas data of 2021. The figure below shows the locations of the 29 warehouses and the 100km radius from it.
Considering Cargill’s 29 warehouses in the top 5 soy and cotton sourcing municipalities in Brazil and its surrounding areas, Cargill is exposed to 38,800 hectares of deforestation* potentially linked to soy or cotton cultivation in a 100 km radius from its assets on the ground.
The figure below shows the soy and cotton cultivation area and the 29 Cargill warehouses considered in the analysis. The figures on the right show two examples of
deforestation happening in properties with soy and cotton cultivation within a 100 km radius from the considered Cargill’s warehouses.
* Overlap of 2,180 ha from RDM 14 case Fazenda Novale.
