Demand your MA State Comptroller take action to end Bunge’s horrific practices!

You can fight the destruction of one of Earth’s most vulnerable, unique ecosystems -- and do so from within the borders of your own state! Bunge, a titan commodity trader, exports colossal amounts of soy every year from Brazil. Its suppliers routinely VIOLATE laws and human rights alike, chopping down ancient trees, displacing local communities, and replacing once beautiful, biodiverse landscapes with massive industrial plantations. But as a major asset owner, YOUR Massachusetts State Comptroller William McNamara, wields significant influence over Bunge and their destructive deforestation.

There’s not a moment to lose. Right now, money-hungry corporations like Bunge are throwing Indigenous and Afro-Brazilian small-scale farmers who call the Cerrado home off their land. And those companies are doing the same thing to animals on the BRINK OF EXTINCTION.

MA State Comptroller

Comptroller

Dear Massachusetts State Comptroller,

Deforestation is the second largest contributor to the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for the climate crisis. Industrial agricultural commodities, including soy and palm oil, are the largest contributors to deforestation worldwide. Bunge Limited, a US-based agribusiness and food company, has received increasing negative attention for its role in driving deforestation, forest fires, and human rights abuses through its soy and palm oil supply chains in Brazil and Indonesia. In Brazil, Bunge’s operations in the Cerrado – the world’s most biodiverse savannah – have contributed to staggering rates of deforestation. The Cerrado has already lost roughly half of its native vegetation to land clearing at the hands of agribusiness. Of US firms operating in the Brazilian soy industry, Bunge ranks first with nearly 350,000 hectares exposed to deforestation risk. Some 95 percent of Bunge’s deforestation risk is concentrated in the Cerrado.

Bunge’s operations pose significant material risks to shareholders. As a top shareholder in Bunge, your state’s pension funds and invested assets should oppose these destructive practices that damage some of the most unique ecosystems in the world, accelerate climate change, contribute to human rights abuses, and expose Massachusetts’ portfolio to long-term financial risk. It’s critical that public money is not invested in companies driving these crises.

This is not just an environmental issue, but a human rights issue as well. Soft commodity supply chains are routinely involved in gross human rights abuses against local communities and environmental defenders. A December 2020 report found that nearly 40 percent of sampled mills supplying Bunge’s palm oil operations in Indonesia were accused of violating local community land rights, criminalizing, and attacking defenders or causing serious environmental degradation. The investigation revealed that Bunge’s existing policies, systems of oversight and grievance mechanisms were inadequate in terms of meaningful due diligence or remedies for violations.

The company’s poor environmental and social performance highlights a serious shortcoming in its overall ability to comply with industry standards and national and international laws across its supply chains. It is the responsibility of shareholders to start holding companies and their Boards of Directors accountable for failing to act on their deforestation commitments.

I am joining with countless others in calling on shareholders to vote against Bunge’s Board Chair for failing to implement a 2021 shareholder resolution, which passed by a resounding 98%, pressing the company to halt deforestation. I request that your office also engage with Bunge to ensure the company takes the necessary subsequent steps of developing comprehensive policies and practices, including:
•	full traceability and transparency for direct and indirect suppliers across supply chains, 
•	detailed non-compliance protocols with clear terms for suspension/termination of suppliers who perpetuate environmental and human rights abuses, and
•	grievance mechanisms that are accessible and responsive to communities and provide remedy for harm.

Thank you for standing up for people and the planet.

Sincerely,
{user_data~First name} {user_data~Last name}
{user_data~City}, {user_data~State} {user_data~Postcode}

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