Agriculture and food

Worldwide, people working in the sugarcane plantations and the local cane sugar industry are paid salaries well below a living wage. This study by Profundo, commissioned by CNV Internationaal, reveals the profit earned in the downstream segments of the cane sugar value chain. The increasing revelations about the low salaries in the upstream segments contrast with the earnings generated downstream, often by (global) brands and large companies. The focus is on where the profit value is generated within Bolivia and Nicaragua's cane sugar supply and value chains. This is embedded in the global context of the leading downstream companies profiting the most from the cane sugar trade.

For Friends of the Earth Netherlands, Profundo researched whether Unilever's most recent climate plan brought it in line with the targets of the Paris Agreement. The results show that Unilever has moved even further away from initial targets and is nowhere near a Paris-proof climate plan, despite some smaller improvements. Unilever lacks targets on 66% of its GHG emissions. The new 2024 Climate Transition Action Plan is on track for a € 268 billion climate damage liability until 2050. Meanwhile, 160,000 hectares (= 70% of the Dutch province of Groningen) in Unilever’s supply chain can be linked to deforestation-risk palm, soy, and timber. Moreover, Unilever is connected to ongoing environmental and human rights breaches in Brazil, Liberia, and Indonesia.

A new study conducted by Profundo and Friends of the Earth examines U.S. banks’ financing of meat, dairy, and feed corporations and the sizable climate impact of that financing. Bank of America, Citigroup, and JPMorgan Chase (the “Big Three”) are responsible for more than half of the $134 billion in loans and underwriting examined in the report. According to the findings of the report, taking action to reduce financed and facilitated emissions from corporations involved in meat, dairy, and/or feed production could be one of the most effective measures major U.S. banks could take to make progress toward their climate commitments.

Through consumption of products from cleared and degraded land and through finance of companies profiting from this, the EU contributes to the destruction of forests and other ecosystems both within and outside its borders. This report, published by Greenpeace, Milieudefensie and Harvest, lays out the importance of EU regulation of the financial sector to align finance with the global 1.5°C and biodiversity targets, including ending any new provision of financial services to groups that contribute to nature destruction. Profundo conducted the financial research for the report.

Exploitation of people and the planet continues to be rampant in the production of food. Supermarkets are powerful players in international food value chains, which is why Oxfam called on supermarkets to take responsibility for human rights in their supply chains in the Behind the Barcodes campaign. Responding to the campaign, several Dutch, German and UK supermarkets committed to conducting and publishing Human Rights Impact Assessments (HRIAs) and subsequent action plans to mitigate and prevent negative human rights impacts in their value chains. This report, released by Oxfam, analyses the HRIAs and action plans that the largest Dutch, German and UK supermarkets have published in the past four years. Profundo conducted the research behind the case study presented in the report of Lidl’s HRIA on berries from Huelva.

Profundo conducted a due diligence check on a supplier working in Gaza to determine whether they would be an appropriate partner for Oxfam Novib to get much needed goods into Gaza.

For this ActionAid report on the role of article 2.1(C) under the UNFCCC, Profundo conducted the data analysis that shows that annual financing provided by European banks to fossil fuel and industrial agriculture activities in the Global South comes to an average of US$ 46.7 billion (€40.2 billion) per year. European financial institutions are fueling the climate crisis by providing hundreds of billions of dollars to fossil fuel and industrial agriculture activities.

Despite its commitment to increase the overall share of its products sold in reusable packaging to 25% by 2030, The Coca-Cola Company’s share of products sold in reusable packaging declined in 2022. For Oceana, Profundo analysed Coca-Cola and its main bottlers' balance sheets and identified their main financiers.

Profundo previously calculated the total costs of damage linked to the climate devastating cash flows from Rabobank to Brazil. In a follow-up study, Profundo calculated which damage claim accrues directly to Rabobank. This shows that Rabobank is responsible for at least 9.5 billion euros of the total damage, and in the worst-case scenario that responsibility even rises to 61 billion euros. When calculating Rabobank's share, Profundo looked at a.o. the profit made and the knowledge of the chain players involved.

This report looks at the role played by major international banks in financing fossil fuels and industrial agriculture in the Global South. Bank financing provided to the fossil fuel industry in the Global South reached an estimated US$ 3.2 trillion in the seven years since the Paris Agreement on Climate Change was adopted. Bank financing provided to the largest industrial agriculture companies operating in the Global South amounted to US$ 370 billion over the same period. The report also examines the current role of public financing in supporting fossil fuels and industrial agriculture, and how public finance could instead support a transition towards a more sustainable future based on renewable energy and agroecology.

This report mapped the main companies and their financiers in the timber and rubber sectors, assessed their policies for mitigating deforestation risks, evaluating the effectiveness of the region's financial sector policy environment, and providing recommendations for collaborating with the financial sector and regulators to protect natural capital while promoting economic development. USD 11.4 billion in forest-risk loans and services were provided by financial institutions between 2016 and 2022, to companies that represent a deforestation risk in the Lower Mekong Region.