Empty promises: Cargill, soy, banks and the destruction of Bolivia’s Chiquitano forest

Global Witness reports that Cargill has purchased soy from farms in Bolivia where over 20,000 hectares of forest have been cleared since 2017. The investigation finds that Cargill fails to collect necessary origin data for its soy, undermining its public commitments to deforestation-free supply chains. Furthermore, a leaked map suggests Cargill may be targeting an additional 3 million hectares of standing forest for future soy sourcing. The report also highlights that global banks, including Barclays, BNP Paribas, HSBC, and Santander, continue to provide billions in financing to Cargill despite their own pledges to reduce deforestation in their portfolios.

• Cargill has directly purchased soy from Bolivian farms where more than 20,000 hectares of forest were razed between 2017 and 2022, particularly within Mennonite colonies in the Santa Cruz region.
• Cargill is systematically failing to record the specific origins of its soy at its storage facilities, often listing only "Santa Cruz" as the origin, which makes verifying deforestation-free claims impossible.
• Analysis of a leaked company map indicates that Cargill may be open to sourcing soy from areas that would put over 3 million hectares of standing forest at risk.
• Major financial institutions, including Barclays, BNP Paribas, HSBC, and Santander, have provided billions of dollars in financing to Cargill since 2021, contradicting their own anti-deforestation pledges.
• The Chiquitano forest, a unique tropical dry forest and conservation priority, is a major deforestation hotspot driven by soy and cattle-ranching, and it is not currently included as a distinct area in Cargill's 2025 deforestation-free roadmap.
• The Bolivian government has facilitated large-scale agricultural expansion through environmental deregulation, including laws that make it easier for smallholders to deforest up to 20 hectares and the reduction of fines for illegal clearing.

APA

Global Witness (n.d.). Empty promises: Cargill, soy, banks and the destruction of Bolivia’s Chiquitano forest. https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/forests/empty-promises-cargill-soy-banks-and-the-destruction-of-bolivias-chiquitano-forest/

Chicago

Global Witness. Empty promises: Cargill, soy, banks and the destruction of Bolivia’s Chiquitano forest. n.d. https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/forests/empty-promises-cargill-soy-banks-and-the-destruction-of-bolivias-chiquitano-forest/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Global Witness |title=Empty promises: Cargill, soy, banks and the destruction of Bolivia’s Chiquitano forest |url=https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/forests/empty-promises-cargill-soy-banks-and-the-destruction-of-bolivias-chiquitano-forest/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{globalwitnessndempty, author = {{Global Witness}}, title = {{Empty promises: Cargill, soy, banks and the destruction of Bolivia’s Chiquitano forest}}, institution = {Global Witness}, url = {https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/forests/empty-promises-cargill-soy-banks-and-the-destruction-of-bolivias-chiquitano-forest/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }