“Big food companies urge soy traders to help save Brazil savanna”, 15 December 2020

...Companies including Tesco, Walmart, Unilever and McDonald’s...said they had urged major commodities traders to stop dealing in soy linked to deforestation in Brazil’s Cerrado, a vast savanna region and vital carbon storehouse. None of the trading houses agreed to the measures, the statement said. “We’re calling on traders to step up their own commitments and implement robust monitoring, verification and reporting systems within the region, and set a 2020 deforestation and conversion-free cut-off date for soy from the Cerrado,” said Anna Turrell, Tesco’s head of environment. The largest savanna in South America, the Cerrado currently produces about 60% of all soybeans in Brazil - the world’s No. 1 exporter of the oilseed crushed to make animal feed and cooking oil...Calls for saving the Cerrado from deforestation are complicated by Brazilian law, which allows landholders to clear up to 80% of native vegetation. Environmental groups criticized Cargill last year after the company said it and the broader food industry would miss the goal of eliminating deforestation from the supply chain by 2020...COFCO, Louis Dreyfus and Glencore did not immediately respond to a request for comment...