This post was originally published on this site
Brazil’s accelerating deforestation is pressuring food makers, retailers, investors and commodity traders to shake up supply chains in an effort to push back on land-clearing and achieve environmental goals.
Nestlé SA NESN, +0.47% , which aims to eliminate deforestation from its supply chain over the next three years, has stopped buying Brazilian-produced soybeans from agricultural trading firm Cargill Inc. after a review couldn’t trace the oilseeds back to specific plantations, raising concerns that they were produced on converted land.
Hennes & Mauritz AB HM.B, -0.25% , which owns retailer H&M, said in September it no longer would buy leather from Brazilian producers until suppliers could prove their livestock weren’t raised or fed via deforested areas. VF Corp. VFC, +0.07% , which makes Timberland and Vans shoes, announced a similar prohibition on Brazilian leather, which has accounted for about 5% of the company’s leather supply.
Cargill, one of the world’s top soybean exporters and processors, said it is rolling out new technologies to analyze and predict land-clearing activities, and urging farmers to maximize existing fields rather than clear new land. The company in June pledged to invest $30 million in new approaches after acknowledging it and other food companies wouldn’t meet a goal to eliminate deforestation in major supply chains by 2020.
Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, which manages $247 billion for dozens of pension and insurance plans, in October said it had sold its position in Brazilian meat giant JBS SA JBSS3, +0.19% after environmental groups criticized the money manager for its estimated $32 million investment. A firm spokesman said the decision followed an analysis of the meat producer’s practices.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
Popular on WSJ.com:
Murkowski ‘disturbed’ by McConnell’s Senate impeachment strategy
Eleven years in the making: Breaking even on JPMorgan’s purchase of Bear Stearns
