Major agricultural commodity-producing countries are seeing environmental enforcement rollbacks amid the coronavirus pandemic. In Brazil and Southeast Asia, concerns about worker safety and limited resources have reduced environmental law enforcement, including the protection of forests and indigenous peoples. These developments increase exposure to deforestation risks for agricultural companies and their investors. In Brazil, the country’s …
Editor’s note: We hope that you are healthy and productive as we all grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic and the uncertainty of what is ahead. The CRR team is hard at work to continue bringing you independent sustainability risk analysis. In the coming weeks and months, we’ll be working to provide insightful analysis while also …
Recent pressure from investors and NGOs have facilitated downstream actors to either adopt new zero-deforestation commitments or enhance existing pledges. This year is key for major consumer-facing companies as many have targeted 2020 to completely eliminate deforestation from their supply chains. But the industry as a whole has fallen short of this goal, with some …
Download the Bahasa translated version here. Analysis by Chain Reaction Research (CRR) shows that ten palm oil companies were alone responsible for approximately 39,500 hectares (ha) of deforestation and peat development in Indonesia, Sarawak (Malaysia) and Papua New Guinea in 2019. This total amounts to roughly 44 percent of all deforestation detected within known oil …
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, recently released a report on its engagement with agricultural firms and the risks and opportunities the industry faces connected to environmental and social (E&S) issues. The communication comes just weeks after the investment firm joined the Climate Action 100+ group and emphasized that climate change is now central to …
Indonesia’s state-owned energy company Pertamina has ended an agreement with Italian Eni to build a refinery to turn palm oil into biodiesel. The end of the partnership, which was agreed last year, is a consequence of Eni’s stricter sustainability standards. The standards were stronger than Pertamina was willing to accept. Pertamina and Eni, under a joint venture, …
The trend to integrate sustainability factors into financial regulatory frameworks is creating compliance, legal and reputational risks for local banks and investors financing forest-risk commodities in tropical countries. International banks and investors exposed to these supply chains may also be affected. Based on public sources and interviews, this report analyses the integration of sustainability in …
This month India began boycotting Malaysian palm oil, a move that could increase the country’s reliance on volumes from Indonesia. This development could lead to greater leakage risks, as India may purchase more volumes from non-NDPE sellers in Indonesia. Deforestation rates for oil palm are higher in Indonesia than in Malaysia. With a majority of …
By revenue, Walmart is the largest company in the world, employing about 2.2 million people and serving over 265 million customers a week. Private-label products sold by Walmart contain commodities that contribute to deforestation. For the forest-risk commodities – palm oil, pulp and paper, soy, and beef – Walmart has set zero net deforestation goals for 2020. Although …
Key members of the soy industry, major corporations, and actors in the financial community are collaborating on efforts to protect against increased deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon and Cerrado. A letter sent by 84 companies, including Fast Moving Consumer Goods companies, as well as investors with more than USD 3 trillion in assets under management, at …
