January 12, 2021

 

Bunge advances sustainability initiatives in 2020

 
 

Bunge has expressed its steadfast commitment to sustainability in a January 11 press release.

 

"We continue to make decisions across our value chain built on a foundation of ethical leadership, accountability and environmental stewardship, and we're proud of the progress we made in the past year," the company said.

 

Bunge highlighted its key advancements in 2020, including:

 

- Development of a new sustainability approach: Bunge's new approach is grounded in three pillars – Action on Climate, Responsible Supply Chains and Accountability. "With these at our core, we'll best capture our goals and activities, while also strengthening the connection between sustainability and our business," Bunge said.

 

- Bunge's first-ever sustainability stakeholder forum: In May 2020, the company welcomed representatives from client companies, banks, industry associations, NGO partners and its own leadership to provide feedback on Bunge's sustainability approach, performance and key opportunities moving forward.

 

- Made progress with Bunge's sustainability-linked loan: The company closed its first US$1.75 billion revolving credit facility linked to performance across five sustainability targets in late 2019. Bunge continues to meet and exceed its annual targets, making it a more reliable partner for banks and financial institutions, the company said.

 

- Supported communities in which Bunge operates through COVID-19 relief: Bunge announced a US$2.5 million commitment to supporting health and hunger causes directly related to the pandemic in the communities where it works worldwide.

 

- Strengthened farmer and grower engagement: Bunge had launched programmes and technology solutions to help upstream suppliers become more connected. These include the "Where Life Grows" programme for shea collectors in Ghana, the launch of AgroApp in Brazil, the roll-out of Agroideal.org in Argentina and Paraguay, supporting growers in North America through Centerfield and special projects with the Soft Commodities Forum.

 

- Improved traceability and monitoring practices: Bunge saw growth in traceability of its supply chains, particularly with South American soy and palm oil, from farm and plantation. "We've been able to monitor larger areas of land, despite our increasing volumes. These efforts, detailed in our 2020 progress reports and dashboard, help to address sustainability risks like deforestation in our supply chains for both Bunge, our customers and our investors," the company said.

 

- Co-founded the Sea Cargo Charter: The Sea Cargo Charter is a global framework that allows for the integration of climate considerations into chartering decisions that favor climate-aligned maritime transport.

 

- Increasing Bunge's ESG scores: At the end of 2020, Bunge jumped to "B" scores for CDP Forests, Water and Climate, one of the most important platforms used by the company's major customers to assess their suppliers' sustainability efforts. Bunge continues to receive AAA ratings from MSCI, positioning itself ahead of industry peers, the company said.
 

- Bunge

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