Spillovers and SDG Implementation: The Case of Soy in Argentina

The document examines how the consumption of Argentine soy in Europe and other regions externalizes environmental and social costs to Argentina, complicating the achievement of SDGs. It highlights significant land-use change, GHG emissions, and mixed social impacts, while recommending bilateral cooperation between Argentina and the EU to mitigate these spillovers.

• Argentine soybean production is heavily driven by foreign consumption, with 82% of production serving foreign final consumption and only 18% supporting domestic use. Europe, China, and the USA are the top final consumers, with Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands being the primary consumers within Europe.
• Soy cultivation in Argentina causes severe environmental degradation, including soil fertility loss, erosion, and threats to nearly 100 vertebrate species on the IUCN Red List. Deforestation in northwestern Argentina occurs at a rate of 300,000 hectares per year, and soy-related GHG emissions (including land use change) total approximately 35 million tons of CO2-equivalent, exceeding half of Argentina's total agricultural GHG emissions.
• The social impacts of the soy sector are mixed: while it has created formal jobs with social security for 33% of workers, it has displaced informal labor and affected the land rights of indigenous peoples and villagers. The workforce is heavily skewed toward males, although females in formal positions tend to have better-paid roles.
• Economic impacts are primarily positive as exports provide public revenues and foreign currency, but this reliance increases Argentina's vulnerability to climate shocks and global market volatility.
• Europe is responsible for approximately 26% of the environmental and socio-economic impacts of Argentine soy cultivation. The document argues that SDG monitoring is incomplete if it does not account for these asymmetric spillovers, noting that while many European countries rank high in the SDG Index, Argentina ranks 45th out of 162.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2019). Spillovers and SDG Implementation: The Case of Soy in Argentina. https://www.sei.org/publications/spillovers-sdg-implementation-soy-argentina/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Spillovers and SDG Implementation: The Case of Soy in Argentina. 2019. https://www.sei.org/publications/spillovers-sdg-implementation-soy-argentina/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Spillovers and SDG Implementation: The Case of Soy in Argentina |date=21 November 2019 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/spillovers-sdg-implementation-soy-argentina/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2019spillovers, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Spillovers and SDG Implementation: The Case of Soy in Argentina}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2019}, month = nov, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/spillovers-sdg-implementation-soy-argentina/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }