WASHINGTON, D.C. – Top institutional shareholders in Bunge Limited last week threw their weight behind a call for the company to do more to protect forests in the Brazilian Cerrado – a vast biodiverse savannah and a vital carbon sink. While the investor proposal is welcome, urgent action is needed to tackle deforestation and human rights abuses, according to campaigners.
Bunge is one of the world’s largest commodity traders, and at its Annual General Meeting a majority of shareholders backed a proposal critical of Bunge’s contributions to deforestation and native vegetation clearance in Latin America, particularly Brazil. In a resolution put forward by Green Century Capital Management – an investment firm with $825m of assets under management – the motion calls on Bunge to report “if and how it could increase the scale, pace, and rigor of its efforts to eliminate native vegetation conversion in its soy supply chain”.