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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, +0.04% , 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, +0.08% 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.
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