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Hello everyone,
As we return from what was hopefully a nice summer for all of us, we are pleased to share the latest edition of the quarterly sustainability newsletter with you.
We continue to be resolute in meeting and exceeding our sustainability commitments, and as part of this ongoing effort, have important updates to share this quarter. Please read on to catch Bunge’s 2019 sustainability report, see updates to our palm oil and shea dashboards, and learn about important new alliances and partnerships that allow us to continue to act with transparency and responsibility across our value chains.
Best wishes,
Sustainability Team,
Bunge Loders Croklaan
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September 2019 – Boots on the Ground in Latin America
Local presence near suppliers enables us to further build relationships with suppliers, generate supplier engagement and ensure compliance with our sustainability policies. Our Sustainability Team already has boots on the ground in Asia, Europe and North America. To expand our local presence, we have a new team member joining us in Mexico to look after our tropical oils supply base in Latin America.
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September 2019 – Updates on the Palm Oil Dashboard
The Palm Oil Dashboard, a platform to communicate our sustainability progress and traceability data in the palm oil supply chain, is updated every quarter. Please click here to see the latest updates.
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September 2019 – Updates on the Shea Dashboard
The Shea Dashboard captures our progress on actions that we’re committed to from our Shea Sustainability Program. An updated version is available here.
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August 2019 – Bunge publishes 2019 Global Sustainability Report
Bunge’s recently published Global Sustainability report captures its progress against environmental goals related to reductions in waste, water and energy use. A significant milestone, as featured in this year’s report, is the disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions in Bunge’s supply chain. The report also details all of its activities and programs that support workplace safety, diversity, partnerships, volunteerism and its various engagement platforms to advance shared sustainability objectives. Please have a look at this year’s edition here.
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July 2019 – Faces of Shea campaign goes live
Developed by the Global Shea Alliance, Faces of Shea is a series of short, impactful videos that feature women at the heart of the shea industry. As an active and committed member of the alliance, we are continuously inspired by how the lives of African women, as well as the communities around them, are positively impacted by their work in the shea industry. Watch the first episode here.
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June 2019 – Bunge joins the Ship Recycling Transparency Initiative
Bunge signed up as the first agri-company to join the Ship Recycling Transparency Initiative (SRTI), a coalition aimed at increasing openness to create a new standard for responsible ship recycling. The SRTI uses an online platform to gather information from ship owners on key disclosures related to social and environmental measures, which in turn allows cargo owners and financial stakeholders to make decisions based on companies’ ship-recycling reporting and approaches. Partnering with the initiative is a testimony to Bunge’s commitment to sustainability beyond just its raw materials. It reflects our broader commitment to building 21st century value chains that are transparent, verified sustainable and create positive impact on the ground.
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Feature: Seeing the Forest and the Trees with New Reporting Framework
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Bunge Loders Croklaan is actively working towards implementation of its NDPE (No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation) commitment via a range of activities. In order to show the progress made in line with NDPE commitments transparently, BLC is now working with the industry (amongst others Cargill, PepsiCo and Nestlé) on a sector-wide reporting tool called NDPE Implementation Reporting Framework. The tool is coordinated by Proforest.
The framework allows companies to report and monitor progress towards NDPE policy commitments in a systematic and clear way, presenting the proportion of volumes purchased that complies with policy commitments, and the progression stage of the remaining volume. The framework provides a clear overview of progress towards full implementation. This allows the company to identify activities that will move volumes in each category towards full implementation and monitors this towards full delivery of policy commitments over time.
A sector-wide reporting tool will enable companies, and the industry, to show progress and gaps comprehensibly to stakeholders and enable intensive implementation work. The success of the framework requires buy-in from all industry actors, including consumer goods companies. BLC fully supports this initiative and is currently in the process of drawing up a Q2 framework report for its origin refinery in Pasir Gudang, Malaysia, to be published on the Palm Oil Dashboard soon.
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Using Story Maps to Track our Sustainability Progress
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The BLC sustainability team has recently developed the Palm Oil Sustainability Story Map, which is an interactive tool visualizing our palm oil sustainability strategy, progress and impact.
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The interactive website combines maps, graphs, text, images, and videos into one story. It features live updates of the maps and figures: the moment our data is updated, so is the website. We would like to invite you to find out more about our palm oil sustainability initiatives. Please note the special sections in the interactive graphs and maps by clicking on the visual below (best viewed in Chrome / Firefox / Safari)
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Creating Positive Impact on the Ground: Donating Shea Rollers and Energy Efficient Stoves
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On the 21st of August 2019, BLC distributed 35 energy-efficient stoves and 40 shea rollers, used for shea collection, to two groups of women in Burkina Faso that supply directly to BLC. Approximately 350 women will benefit from these stoves and rollers. So far BLC has distributed 300 stoves and 400 rollers amongst the women’s groups that supply our shea nuts.
Energy-efficient Stoves
The energy-efficient stoves are locally produced by a social enterprise in Burkina Faso: Nafa Naana. The stoves can be used to parboil shea nuts and for general cooking at home. Each stove supports a group of 10 to 15 women.
Donation of stoves is in line with our overall commitment to minimize environmental impact in our shea supply chain. The artisanal stoves improve fuel efficiency as a result of improved insulation, heat transfer and airflow. They burn less wood than customary alternatives. The fuel savings are expected to exceed 40% compared to the traditional three-stone-fire method.
As part of the August ceremony, the women were taught in their local language how to use the stoves. The BLC team received positive feedback from the women about the stoves, indicating that they heat up faster, use less firewood, produce less smoke and heat, and are more mobile than the traditional method.
Shea Rollers
BLC actively looks for ways to prevent shea collectors from snake and insect bites and scorpion stings and to ease the collection process. Over the past years, the local BLC teams have evaluated the use of shea rollers, rotating baskets used for collection, with several groups of women. Three points stand out:
- Safety: the women are less concerned about scorpion stings and snake and insect bites when using the rollers for collection. This eliminates the need to collect during dusk or dawn, which minimizes the risk of stings and bites, making collection moments more flexible.
- Physical ease: the use of the roller makes the work easier, leading to less physical strain. Older women can return to participating in the collection, enabling them to contribute to the family income, which in turn has a positive impact on their self-esteem.
- Speed/yield: less time is spent on collection. A higher yield is expected, since the shea nuts can be collected faster when rollers are used.
The positive feedback received from the women is encouraging BLC to continue supporting women collectors with energy-efficient stoves and shea rollers.
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ILHAM Smallholder Program Update
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On 31 July 2019, BLC successfully organized its first Best Management Practice (BMP) workshop for smallholders participating in the ILHAM smallholder program. The event was organized in collaboration with our program partners Kilang Kelapa Sawit Fortuna, IOI Group, and Kerry Group.
The workshop was held at the Fortuna clubhouse, with around 50 participating smallholders. Opening remarks by Alvin Leong, Executive Director of Kilang Kelapa Sawit Fortuna, were followed by a presentation from Dean Ismail of Bunge Loders Croklaan. Dean presented an analysis of the smallholder data that had been collected over the past year.
The BMP workshop kicked off with representatives from the IOI Group Research and sustainability team, who provided input on methods to apply fertilizer effectively, followed by ways to determine nutrient deficiency in palm trees, proper handling of chemical storage, use of personal protective equipment, and lastly, an update on the MSPO certification.
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It was encouraging to see the smallholders’ interest in this program. All smallholders signed the letter that was distributed during registration, committing to the program.
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BLC also took this opportunity to share the results of the recent soil and foliar analysis, and to officially launch the bio-fertilizer program. A subsidy of about 65% will be provided to all smallholders that purchase the specially formulated bio-fertilizers. This formulation is based on the results of the soil and foliar sampling.
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BLC joins the Sustainable Palm Oil Choice group in Europe
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In line with its continued support for 100% sustainable palm oil, BLC has joined the Sustainable Palm Oil Choice group (SPOC) in Europe. SPOC has been initiated and is funded by a group of companies and organizations that are committed to produce, use and support sustainable palm oil (defined as RSPO-certified, its equivalent, or superior) in Europe. The group pledges to choose sustainable palm oil to:
- help protect rainforests, conserve biodiversity, and create fair socio-economic conditions
- help achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
- drive market change to reach 100% sustainable palm oil for food in Europe in 2020
The initiative voices commitments, actions and progress to show the impact of sustainable palm oil on the ground. It also shares stories on successful practices that show how oil palms can be grown sustainably.
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Please send your feedback and questions to blc.sustainability@bunge.com.
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Copyright © 2019 Bunge Loders Croklaan, All rights reserved.
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