Bunge’s Climate Goals Reward Farmers With Premium Prices
Bunge’s Climate Goals Reward Farmers With Premium Prices
(Bloomberg) -- Farmers who avoid deforestation to grow crops are reaping rewards under Bunge Ltd.’s latest targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Bunge is paying premium prices to growers taking such measures as the world’s largest oilseed processor pushes to boost regenerative agriculture practices to keep carbon in the ground instead of the atmosphere.
“We’re looking to create incentives for farmers not to deforest even if they have a legal right,” Robert Coviello, chief sustainability officer and government affairs at Bunge, said in a phone interview.
Bunge aims to cut carbon emissions directly tied to its operations by 25% by 2030 from 2020 levels and reduce so-called scope 3 emissions indirectly tied to the company by 12%, the company said Thursday in a statement. Its goals have been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative.
The commitment follows an announcement at the United Nations’ COP26 climate conference in Glasgow by 100 countries including Brazil, the biggest soy producer and home to the world’s largest tropical rainforest, to halt and reverse deforestation in nine years.
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