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Home › Dodgy Deals ›
Dodgy Deal
CargillUnited States

Company – Active

This profile is actively maintained
Lead organisation:
BankTrack
Contact:

nature@banktrack.org

Last update: 2023-03-13 00:00:00
Photo: .

Company – Active

This profile is actively maintained
Lead organisation:
BankTrack
Contact:

nature@banktrack.org

Last update: 2023-03-13 00:00:00
Why this profile?

Why this profile?

Cargill is one of the largest companies in the world and is connected to environmental destruction and repeated instances of human rights abuses. The company drives deforestation in some of the most fragile forest ecosystems in Brazil and encroaches on the lands of Indigenous peoples who depend on those forests. Cargill is also one of the top ten polluters in the US food industry and contributes to accelerating climate change through its supply chain emissions. 

What must happen

Banks should not renew or take on new financing agreements with Cargill until and unless it fully eliminates deforestation and human rights abuses from its entire supply chain, and publicly reports its full supply chain emissions and include them in its reduction targets. Where engagement with the company does not bring about these results in a timely manner, financial institutions must divest or suspend any existing financial agreements.

About
Sectors Agriculture for Palm Oil , Agriculture for Food Crops
Headquarters
Ownership

Cargill is a privately owned company. The descendants of the founder (from the Cargill and MacMillan families) own over 85% of the company.

Subsidiaries
Website http://www.cargill.com

Cargill is a multinational company which provides food, agriculture, financial and industrial products. It is the second-largest meat processor worldwide. It has 155,000 employees and operates in 70 countries. It was founded in 1865. Cargill has more than 60 subsidiaries. A list can be found here.

Impacts

Impact on human rights and communities

In 2005, the International Labor Rights Fund filed suit against Cargill, Nestlé, and Archer Daniels Midland in federal court on behalf of children who were trafficked from Mali into Côte d'Ivoire and forced to work 12 to 14 hours a day with no pay, little food and sleep, and frequent physical abuse, on cocoa bean plantations. In 2016, the Supreme Court ruled that the lawsuit would not be withdrawn. However, in 2021 a final Supreme Court ruling reversed the decision and the lawsuit was thrown out.

Cargill is a major buyer of cotton in Uzbekistan, despite the industry prevalence of uncompensated workers and possible human rights abuses. Two company representatives admitted that the company is aware of the possible use of child labour in the production of its crops, a concern which they raised publicly back in 2005, but no action has been taken regarding labour violations existent in their Uzbek operations. 

Moreover, the NGO Mighty Earth visited the Cargill headquarters to urge the company to stop doing business in Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine. The volunteers carried thousands of petition signatures and a letter from Ukraine civil society groups, but Cargill has yet to pull out of Russia.


Impact on climate

According to a study published by Global Justice Now in 2015, Cargill's undeclared climate emissions are comparable to the combined national emissions of Denmark, Bulgaria and Sweden. The company declared its annual emissions in 2015 as 15m tonnes. However, if the analysis included the emissions caused by growing food crops and their use of livestock then the result would be starkly different: Cargill’s climate impact would reach an estimated climate impact of 145m tonnes. 


Adding to this, GRAIN and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) have found that Cargill still fails to report its supply chain emissions or to include them in its reduction targets. Cargill’s failure to include these emissions from its reduction targets clashes with the company’s claim that they “account for roughly 90 % of emissions across [its] value chain”.


Impact on nature and environment

Soy: In 2003, Cargill completed a port for processing soya in Santarém in the Amazon region of Brazil, dramatically increasing soya production in the area and speeding up deforestation of local rain forests. Then, in 2006 Greenpeace urged food retailers to stop buying meat raised on Amazon soy. Major food retailers including McDonald's, along with UK retailers Asda, Waitrose, and Marks & Spencer joined the Greenpeace campaign. These retailers have, in turn, put pressure on Cargill, Archer Daniels Midland, Bunge, André Maggi Group, and Dreyfus to prove their soya was not grown on recently deforested land in the Amazon. In July 2006, Cargill joined other soy businesses in Brazil in a two-year moratorium on the purchase of soybeans from newly deforested land.  

The Santarem port was shut down in 2007 by the Brazilian Environmental Agency due to Cargill’s failure in providing an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA); in 2010 Cargill submitted an EIA and the port was reopened in 2012. By 2015, six new ports were added. By 2019, Cargill admitted that the Brazilian soy industry would be unable to meet the target of ‘ending deforestation’ in Brazil by 2020 that soy companies had set in the 2000s.

Palm oil: In July 2014 Cargill announced a “No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation” palm oil policy for its own operations and its third-party suppliers. It has promised to announce a specific implementation plan, and it has partnered with TFT to provide traceability to its customers. This policy was a major step forward for Cargill, and was praised by outside experts and NGOs. However, the policy does contain some gaps: it does not address the use of hazardous pesticides, such as those banned by the Rotterdam Convention, and it does not make any commitments to address mill effluent, a globally significant source of methane pollution. Most importantly, the policy currently only applies to palm oil, leaving out Cargill’s significant global commodity operations in cattle, soy, and sugar, among others. Nonetheless, the policy marks a major step forward for Cargill as a responsible palm oil provider. On September 23 2014, Cargill announced that it was extending its deforestation-free policy across all commodities.  

However, in 2016, the Malaysian-based palm oil conglomerate IOI was caught illegally laying waste on protected tropical rainforests and exploiting local communities and workers. As a result, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) suspended IOI’s sustainability certification and 26 companies cancelled their contracts with IOI, including Unilever, Kellogg Company, Mars, Colgate-Palmolive, Johnson & Johnson, and Nestlé. Only after months and growing public pressure, did Cargill sever its ties with IOI. Cargill has since resumed sourcing from IOI.

Similarly, in 2015, the Guatemalan palm oil company Reforestadora de Palmas del Petén (REPSA) was identified as likely responsible for the contamination of one of Guatemala’s largest rivers, resulting in a fish kill of more than one hundred and fifty tons of fish, thus devastating over a hundred communities that depend on the river. Following a lawsuit brought by a local community group, a Guatemalan court found REPSA guilty of “ecocide” and ordered them to suspend operations. Cargill suspended their contract only after years of pressure from American and Latin American environmental and human rights organisations, and the arrests for bribery and tax fraud of three of REPSA’s top executives. 


Deforestation and biodiversity impacts: In Ghana and the Ivory Coast, Cargill has been accused of buying cocoa beans grown through the illegal clearing of protected forests and national parks. According to a series of Unearthed reports, Cargill has also violated various US environmental laws in recent years. Noxious waste from hog farms and fertiliser plants has been spilled into creeks and streams, including in Missouri and Illinois, and bays from San Francisco to Tampa, killing countless fish and spoiling wildlife refuges, wetlands and reserves. Moreover, the multinational has been repeatedly linked to farms engaging in deforestation. In 2020, Unearthed and TBIJ revealed 800 sq km of deforestation and 12,000 fires since 2015 on land used by Cargill soya suppliers in the Cerrado. Lastly, during COP26, trade groups whose members include Cargill, Bunge, and ADM pushed the EU to soften its anti-deforestation plans just days after the same companies unveiled major climate pledges. 

Financiers
Institution type
Finance type
Year
Projects

Ferrogrão EF-170 Railway

Brazil
Project
Active
Train and Railroad Manufacturing | ...

Ferrogrão EF-170 Railway

Brazil
There are no active project profiles for Cargill now.
News
BankTrack
Partners
Blog
External
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

On International Forests Day, new briefing paper urges banks and financiers to exclude harmful financing that negatively impacts primary and vulnerable secondary forests

2023-03-21 | Friends of the Earth US
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

New investigation accuses central banks of financing deforestation

2022-09-28 | London | Global Witness
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Soybean giant breaks pledge on Amazon deforestation

2022-01-14 | The Bureau of Investigative Journalism
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

British supermarket cheese linked to catastrophic deforestation in Brazil

2021-10-13 | The Bureau of Investigative Journalism
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

UOB's new sectoral policies need stronger requirements for forest-risk commodities companies

2021-09-27 | BankTrack, Forests & Finance Coalition
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Swedish banks contribute to Amazon deforestation

2021-09-21 | Fair Finance Guide Sweden
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

The Chain: Less Rainfall Caused by Amazon Deforestation Could Lead to Almost $200B in Losses for Beef and Soy Sectors

2021-06-10 | Chain Reaction Research
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Under the spotlight: Chinese banks' risky agribusiness portfolio

New Global Witness analysis shows Chinese banks are pouring billions into destructive agribusiness linked to global deforestation, highlighting huge gaps in environmental and social risk management
2021-06-07 | Global Witness
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Global food giants sourced soya linked to illegal Amazon deforestation

2021-06-01 | Greenpeace, Greenpeace Unearthed
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Are banks partly responsible for child labour and deforestation in chocolate production?

The role of Belgian banks in the cocoa sector
2021-04-03 | FairFin
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

EXCLUSIVO – Movimentos sociais de Abaetetuba denunciam fraude fundiária da Cargill. Empresa, rebate

2021-03-22 | Ver o fato
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Big banks make a dangerous bet on the world’s growing demand for food

While banks and asset managers are promising to divest from fossil fuels, they are expanding investments in high-carbon foods and commodities tied to deforestation.
2021-03-07 | Inside Climate News
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Scandinavian fund excludes Cargill, Bunge and ADM for deforestation in Brazil

2021-02-15 | AW journal
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

BNP Paribas gives soy-related deforestation a five-year free pass

2021-02-15 | Canopée Forêts Vivantes, Mighty Earth, Reclaim Finance, SumOfUs
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

The Chain: Traders See Increased Pressure to Agree to 2020 Cut-Off Date in Cerrado

2021-01-19 | Chain Reaction Research
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Big food companies urge soy traders to help save Brazil savanna

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Companies including Tesco, Walmart, Unilever and McDonald’s on Tuesday said they had urged major commodities traders to stop dealing in soy linked to deforestation in Brazil’s Cerrado, a vast savanna region and vital carbon storehouse.
2020-12-21 | Reuters
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

GREEN CATS 2020 UPDATE: SCORING PALM OIL AND SOY COMPANIES ON FOREST POLICIES AND TRANSPARENCY

2020-12-21 | Forest Heroes
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Recent Cerrado Deforestation, Wildfires Linked to UK Chicken Consumption

2020-12-01 | Chain Reaction Research
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

‘Digital land grab’ deprives traditional LatAm peoples of ancestral lands: Report

2020-10-28 | Mongabay
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

American financiers invested more than USD 18 billion in companies linked to Indigenous Rights violations in the Brazilian Amazon

2020-10-27 | Brasília, Brazil and Oakland, USA | Amazon Watch, Association of Brazil’s Indigenous Peoples (APIB)
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Cargill: The Worst Company In the World

2020-10-02 | Mighty Earth
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Chocolate com trabalho escravo: as violações trabalhistas na indústria do cacau no Brasil

2020-08-30 | Reporter Brasil
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Butchering the Planet: the big-name financiers bankrolling livestock corporations and climate change

New Feedback's report draws attention to the environmental impacts of the livestock industry
2020-07-13 | Feedback Global
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

JJF Holding land-grabbing case intensifies soy traders’ exposure to Cerrado deforestation

2019-11-04 | Chain Reaction Research
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Money to burn

More than 300 banks and investors back six of the world’s most harmful agribusinesses to the tune of $44bn
2019-09-23 | Global Witness
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Cargill: The Worst Company In the World

2019-09-05 | Mighty Earth
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Mystery Meat

2019-09-05 | Mighty Earth
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Global NGOs: Dirty Dozen Companies Driving Deforestation Must Act Now to Stop the Burning of the World's Forests

Groups call for the immediate suspension of all business and financing with traders active in the Brazilian Amazon "The Amazon is on fire. Corporations share the blame. They need to become part of the solution."
2019-08-30 | Amazon Watch
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

The Companies Behind the Burning of the Amazon

2019-08-29 | Mighty Earth
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Complicity in Destruction II

How northern consumers and financiers enable Bolsonaro's assault on the Brazilian Amazon
2019-04-25 | Amazon Watch
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Saving the Cerrado: Six commodities traders to disclose supply chain data

2019-03-07 | Mongabay
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Traders, farmers fined over links to deforestation in Cerrado

2018-05-24 | Feed Navigator
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Cargill suspends new purchase agreements with Malaysian palm oil giant IOI

2016-07-18 | Mongabay
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

New poll: Australians draw the line at badly behaving banks

Oxfam Australia release "Still Banking on Land Grabs"
2016-02-15 | Melbourne | Oxfam Australia
private BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Nestlé, Cargill, Archer Daniels Midland lawsuit (re Côte d'Ivoire)

2016-01-10 | Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Three food companies with a climate footprint bigger than the Netherlands

2015-12-07 | The Guardian
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Palm oil giants to investigate company found razing Papuan rainforest

2015-06-22 | Mongabay
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

How Companies Are Striving for Deforestation-Free Supply Chains

2015-05-25 | The Huffington Post
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Walking the talk on zero deforestation

2015-05-15 | Eco-business.com
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Palm giants ask Indonesian gov't to clear path toward sustainability

2015-05-01 | Mongabay
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Cargill takes steps to meet growing demand for sustainable palm oil

2015-01-08 | Farmlandgrab
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Cargill may invest $1b in Indonesia over 3 to 4 years with palm oil and poultry focus

2014-12-09 | Farm lanf grab
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

'No forests, no cash': palm oil giants commit to sustainability, but will they follow through?

2014-10-21 | Mongabay
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Forests need laws, not loopholes

2014-09-25 | Greenpeace
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

The Soya Moratorium is protecting the Amazon. Does Cargill still support it?

2014-09-24 | Greenpeace
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Cargill becomes TFT member

2014-09-15 | TFT
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Cargill's palm oil commitment

2014-07-30 | Greenpeace
private BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Don't be fooled by 'zero deforestation' promises

2014-05-19 | The Ecologist
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Cargill: Inside the quiet giant that rules the food business

2011-10-27 | Fortune Magazine
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Uzbekistan cotton – A thread of hope in the retail fabric

2007-10-04 | Ethical Corp
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Cargill's controversial soya port closed in the Amazon

2007-03-27 | Greenpeace
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

McVictory Victory as fast food giant pledges to help protect the Amazon

2006-07-25 | Greenpeace
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

ADM, Nestle & Cargill Sued for Sourcing Cocoa Beans for Chocolate from Slave Labor Plantations in Africa

2005-07-19 | Organic Consumers
Resources
Documents
Links
2021-05-03 00:00:00

Key Cerrado Deforesters in 2020 Linked to the Clearing of More Than 110,000 Hectares

NGO document
2021-05-03 00:00:00 | Chain Reaction Research
2020-10-27 00:00:00

Complicity in Destruction III

NGO document
2020-10-27 00:00:00 | APIB and Amazon Watch
2021-03-22 00:00:00

Public letter of information on land irregularities practiced by the company Cargill Agricola S.A. and the encroachment of traditionally occupied land in the municipality of Abaetetuba, State of Pará

NGO document
2021-03-22 00:00:00 | Comissão Pastoral da Terra and others
2021-03-19 00:00:00

Countdown to Extinction

What will it take to get companies to act?
NGO document
2021-03-19 00:00:00 | Greenpeace
2021-03-18 00:00:00

Shining a Spotlight

A critical assessment of food and beverage companies’ delivery of sustainability commitments
NGO document
2021-03-18 00:00:00 | Oxfam
2020-12-21 00:00:00

Domestic Banks Finance 74% of Brazilian Beef & Soy

NGO document
2020-12-21 00:00:00 | Chain Reaction Research
2020-12-18 00:00:00

The Ultimate Mystery Meat - Exposing the Secrets Behind Burger King and Global Meat Production

NGO document
2020-12-18 00:00:00 | Mighty Earth
2020-11-27 00:00:00

Complicity in Destruction III

NGO document
2020-11-27 00:00:00 | Amazon Watch
2020-11-22 00:00:00

Letter from Forests & Finance to JPMorgan Chase on JPMorgan Chase' forest-risk financing

Correspondence
2020-11-22 00:00:00 | Forests & Finance
2020-11-22 00:00:00

Letter from Forests & Finance to BNP Paribas on BNP Paribas' forest-risk financing

Correspondence
2020-11-22 00:00:00 | Forests & Finance
2019-09-30 00:00:00

Deutsche Banken spielen mit dem Feuer

NGO document
2019-09-30 00:00:00 | Facing Finance
2019-04-25 00:00:00

Complicity in destruction II

NGO document
2019-04-25 00:00:00 | Amazon Watch
2018-04-30 00:00:00

The avoidable crisis

The European Meat Industry's Environmental Catastrophy
NGO document
2018-04-30 00:00:00 | Mighty Earth, Regnskogfondet, Fern
2017-09-30 00:00:00

Chocolate's dark secret

NGO document
2017-09-30 00:00:00 | Mighty Earth
2016-03-01 00:00:00

Cargill annual report 2015

Annual report
2016-03-01 00:00:00 | Cargill
2014-10-01 00:00:00

Dirty Profits III

Reporting on Companies and Financial Institutions Benefiting from Violations of Human Rights 
NGO document
2014-10-01 00:00:00 | Facing Finance
2014-07-31 00:00:00

Cargill Policy on Sustainable Palm Oil

Bank policy
2014-07-31 00:00:00 | Cargill
2014-02-01 00:00:00

P&G's Dirty Secret

Media briefing on Greenpeace International’s investigation of how P&G’s palm oil suppliers are pushing Sumatran tigers and orang-utans closer to extinction
NGO document
2014-02-01 00:00:00 | Greenpeace
2014-02-01 00:00:00

Procte & Gamble's Dirty Secret

NGO document
2014-02-01 00:00:00 | Greenpeace
2014-01-01 00:00:00

CSR Report 2013

Annual report
2014-01-01 00:00:00 | Cargill Indonesia
2013-02-01 00:00:00

SEEDS OF DESTRUCTION

NGO document
2013-02-01 00:00:00 | The Rainforest Foundation

Cargill on Sustainable Palm Oil

The companies behind the burning of the Amazon

By Mighty Earth

Traders, farmers fined over links to deforestation in Cerrado

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