Bunge is a member of the Soft Commodities Forum (SCF), a global platform for leading soft commodities companies, convened by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) for the purpose of advancing collective action around common sustainability challenges.
The SCF is made up of WBCSD member companies who share a vision of ensuring sustainable agriculture supply chains and working in partnership with government, producers, consumers and civil society to create a safer, more sustainable food system. It is the first time that companies in the sector are working collaboratively to address common environmental challenges in the Cerrado biome of Brazil, and doing so in a way that can have a lasting impact in support of sustainable agriculture in the region.
What is the Cerrado?
The Cerrado is a large geographic region in central Brazil. It is home to millions of people and is responsible for the majority of agricultural production in South America. For the last 25 years the region has experienced rapid agricultural expansion. This expansion has offered economic opportunities to thousands of farmers who have to maintained at least 20% to 30% of their farmland as native vegetation. Nevertheless agricultural expansion has impacted the natural habitat and has generated concerns regarding loss of biodiversity.
As a leading agribusiness company in Brazil, Bunge is committed to developing supply chains that are transparent, verified sustainable and which create positive impacts on the ground. We are committed to eliminating deforestation throughout our supply chains by 2025 -- this includes delicate biomes such as the Cerrado.
Engagement in the SCF
Bunge co-founded the SCF along with several leading industry peers as a way to address common sustainability challenges, including deforestation in the Cerrado. Working with our peers, Bunge is helping to enhance the sector’s transparency around soybean sourcing from several prioritized municipalities that are more vulnerable to deforestation. In 2021, the number of municipalities monitored increased from 25 to 61.
Although Bunge has been regularly disclosing public information about our soy supply chain in South America since 2016, the SCF is a new platform where companies commit to publish bi-annual reports sharing additional sourcing data, such as traceability info in the 61 municipalities.
Bunge's latest performance report, published in December 2021, is available here.
What is the Cerrado?
The Cerrado is a large geographic region in central Brazil. It is home to millions of people and is responsible for the majority of agricultural production in South America. For the last 25 years the region has experienced rapid agricultural expansion. This expansion has offered economic opportunities to thousands of farmers who have to maintained at least 20% to 30% of their farmland as native vegetation. Nevertheless agricultural expansion has impacted the natural habitat and has generated concerns regarding loss of biodiversity.
As a leading agribusiness company in Brazil, Bunge is committed to developing supply chains that are transparent, verified sustainable and which create positive impacts on the ground. We are committed to eliminating deforestation throughout our supply chains by 2025 -- this includes delicate biomes such as the Cerrado.
Engagement in the SCF
Bunge co-founded the SCF along with several leading industry peers as a way to address common sustainability challenges, including deforestation in the Cerrado. Working with our peers, Bunge is helping to enhance the sector’s transparency around soybean sourcing from several prioritized municipalities that are more vulnerable to deforestation. In 2021, the number of municipalities monitored increased from 25 to 61.
Although Bunge has been regularly disclosing public information about our soy supply chain in South America since 2016, the SCF is a new platform where companies commit to publish bi-annual reports sharing additional sourcing data, such as traceability info in the 61 municipalities.
Bunge's latest performance report, published in December 2021, is available here.
“Our commitment to non-deforestation worldwide continues and we are pleased to see the progress achieved by SCF members. New metrics are being adopted and implemented, reflecting a shared vision of higher accountability and standards. As a leader in the industry, Bunge will leverage this framework to continue increasing traceability and transparency within its soybean supply chain.”
-Robert Coviello, SVP of Sustainability & Government Affairs, Bunge
The SCF report
In June 2019, SCF members issued their first report on a common framework to disclose progress in curbing deforestation. It was an important milestone that brought the sector together by disclosing common indicators around the sourcing of soy. Subsequent reports were released in December and June each year, with each report underscoring how Bunge's existing efforts to monitor for land-use change in the priority municipalities showed us as the company with the highest direct sourcing levels compared to others - an important indicator highlighting the implementation of our good governance approach.
In December 2021, the sixth SCF report was published. It provides information about deforestation and soy trends in the focus areas of the Cerrado -- chiefly, the 61 monitored municipalities. In this report, the six SCF members reaffirm their commitments to increase the transparency and traceability of their Cerrado-sourced soy supply chains, to track sourcing where there are the highest risks of deforestation and conversion. In this context, and building upon the SCF’s expanded scope announced in June 2021, members developed a common methodology to report soy verified to be deforestation- and conversion-free in the SCF 61 focus municipalities, for which progress will be reported as of 2022, providing further accountability to soy value chain stakeholders.
Bunge continues to perform strongly in the SCF report. Bunge reports 100% traceability to all direct source farms in the monitored municipalities, and 100% mapping of the indirect suppliers as well. Learn more by reading the report summary here.