Calling out the “Worst Company in the World”

As part of our ongoing work to prevent deforestation in Latin America, we’ve been identifying the businesses responsible for ecological destruction. When one of the largest companies in the world kept showing up, we knew it was time to take a deeper look. And what we found earned the Minnesota-based agribusiness giant Cargill the title of The Worst Company in the World.

Focus

Whether we were working on palm oil in Southeast Asia, cocoa farming in West Africa, or soy cultivation in South America, Cargill was always there, ready to thwart progress and impede joint conservation efforts. Given their ubiquity and obstinance, we decided it was time to take a closer look at their checkered past.

We worked with Mighty Earth to compile, publish, and publicize the groundbreaking report, The Worst Company in the World, which kicked-off a multimillion-dollar, multi-year campaign targeting Cargill and asking its customers to urge the company to eliminate deforestation and human rights abuses from its supply chain.

Impact

• Published a report documenting Cargill’s decades of bad acts by the company and highlights the need for urgent action. The report was translated into Spanish, Dutch, French, Portuguese and German.

•  Raised awareness about Cargill’s dirty and dangerous practices by securing media in publications around the world, including a New York Times article, “From Environmental Leader to ‘Worst Company in the World’.”

• Launched a movement against international supermarkets and food retailers continuing to do business with Cargill. So far, the campaign has helped lead to an announcement that Nestlé would cease buying Cargill’s Brazilian soybeans and a decision from Grieg Seafood to exclude Cargill Aqua Nutrition from its $92 million green bond. Both companies cited concerns about Cargill’s ties to deforestation in Brazil.