Bunge Global sustainability score: 28/100

Bunge discloses Scope 1 (1,665,988 tCO₂e) and Scope 2 (867,115 tCO₂e) for 2024 per data aggregated from its sustainability reports (tracenable.com citing Bunge's 2025 Global Sustainability Report). The 2025 Sustainability Report states limited assurance is available for Scope 1 & 2 GHG emissions (bunge.com certifications page). The methodology is GHG Protocol-aligned. Multi-year tracking is in place with a verified 2020 baseline following rebaselining per GHG Protocol guidance. However, assurance is limited rather than reasonable, and the perimeter excludes silos and port activities, capping the score below 8.

Bunge reports Scope 3 total of approximately 136.7 billion kg CO₂e (136.7 million tCO₂e) for 2024 per the 2025 Global Sustainability Report, covering purchased goods, transportation, processing, and land-use change. This is an enormous supply chain footprint dominated by agricultural commodity sourcing and land-use change emissions. Multiple Scope 3 categories are quantified with GHG Protocol methodology, and the company has SBTi-validated Scope 3 absolute reduction targets. However, third-party verification of Scope 3 is not confirmed, and the baseline restatement complicates year-on-year comparison. The sheer scale of land-use change emissions embedded in soy sourcing (the dominant Scope 3 driver) and documented ongoing sourcing from deforestation-linked suppliers tempers the score.

The 2025 Global Sustainability Report reports a 19.7% absolute reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions against the 2020 baseline, and a 6.7% absolute reduction in Scope 3 against the same baseline. In 2023 alone, Scope 1&2 fell ~15.8% and Scope 3 fell ~10.6% against the 2020 baseline. These are stated as absolute reductions, which is the correct metric. However, Bunge's own disclosure notes the 2021 and 2022 figures cannot be used for year-on-year comparison due to baseline restatements, limiting the ability to confirm a clean multi-year trajectory. Furthermore, the tracenable.com dataset shows Scope 1&2 operational emissions decreased only 5.61% in 2024 vs 2023 while total reported footprint including Scope 3 increased 42.6% between 2023 and 2024, suggesting methodological or portfolio-change volatility in Scope 3. Progress is real but the trajectory is not yet confirmed as consistent across all scopes; the score is capped below 6.

A 2024 Bunge sustainability presentation (MARS 2024 Winter Meeting, January 2024) disclosed that 25% of Bunge's energy came from renewable sources at that time. The 2024 Annual Report references procurement of zero- or low-carbon electricity sources as part of the SBTi plan, and the 2025 Global Sustainability Report notes that European facilities ceased coal use. The purchasing of greener electricity reduced CO₂e by more than 331,000 metric tons in 2022 per CDP. Bunge is a large industrial energy consumer across multiple continents, processing oilseeds and grains at scale. At 25% renewable — with no RE100 membership, no PPA disclosure at scale, and no verified market-based Scope 2 figure cited in the latest report — this is below the threshold for a 6. The coal phase-out in Europe is a positive concrete step.

Bunge's core business — sourcing, processing, and trading agricultural commodities, primarily soy from South America — is directly linked to some of the world's most acute ecosystem destruction. Global Canopy's Trase database consistently identified Bunge as having the largest deforestation exposure for soy in Brazil since at least 2013, with exposure exceeding 60,000 hectares in 2020 alone (Forests & Finance, 2024). In 2024, a Bunge soy supplier was fined USD 933,150 for destroying an area equivalent to 2,500 football fields in Piauí, and satellite data confirmed soy planting continued on embargoed areas, with Bunge still receiving supplies from that producer (Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, 2024). Mighty Earth's December 2024 tracker ranked Bunge 31/100 on deforestation, among the worst major soy traders. Bunge has a 2025 deforestation-free commitment and achieved 100% traceability in Brazilian priority regions for direct and indirect soy, and is a TNFD early adopter. However, these disclosures and commitments are in conflict with the documented ongoing sourcing links to deforestation. The TNFD disclosure has been critiqued by the Forests & Finance coalition as inadequate and not independently verifiable. The physical reality — ongoing deforestation linkages despite a decade of commitments — limits the score severely.

The 2025 Global Sustainability Report discloses that 82% of total waste was reused or recycled in 2024, and waste-to-landfill intensity fell 13.5% against the 2026 intensity target, which has been surpassed ahead of schedule. Hazardous waste stood at 2,537 metric tons in 2023, down from 2,678 in 2022 but up from 1,840 in 2021 — with the share of hazardous waste in total waste increasing year-on-year since 2021. Waste metrics are published publicly and tracked annually. Targets are intensity-based (per tonne of product) not absolute, which is a limitation. Circular economy claims are modest and no closed-loop systems are evidenced. Score reflects measurable progress and tracking but intensity-only framing and rising hazardous waste share.

The 2025 Global Sustainability Report records a 17.2% water intensity reduction against the 2016 baseline, exceeding the 10% intensity target (25% for high-stress areas) set for 2026. Bunge is a signatory of the UN CEO Water Mandate (CDP Water 2020). Water targets are intensity-based (per tonne of product), not absolute. Bunge is a large-scale industrial processor across water-stressed regions including Brazil. No absolute water consumption figure was found in recent sources, and no independent verification of water data was confirmed in the 2024/2025 reports. No significant water pollution incidents were identified but the absence of absolute data and verification caps the score.

SBTi-validated near-term targets (announced November 2021): absolute 25% Scope 1&2 reduction and absolute 12.3% Scope 3 reduction by 2030 from a 2020 baseline, both validated by SBTi. These are absolute targets covering all three scopes — the correct structure. As of the 2025 Global Sustainability Report, Bunge is at 19.7% on Scope 1&2 (target: 25%) and 6.7% on Scope 3 (target: 12.3%) — on a reasonable pace with five years remaining. No net-zero target for 2050 appears to have been SBTi-validated (net0tracker shows no net-zero target in their database). No heavy reliance on offsets identified. The 2030 targets are well-below-2°C pathway aligned, not 1.5°C. Score of 5 reflects validated near-term absolute targets in delivery, without a validated long-term net-zero commitment or 1.5°C alignment.

Bunge publishes annual Global Sustainability Reports (2025 report released May 2025), CDP climate, forests, and water reports, and files SEC disclosures referencing sustainability. Limited assurance is provided for Scope 1&2 GHG emissions and supply chain traceability metrics. A dedicated Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility Board Committee exists, with the Board chair overseeing it. Performance-based sustainability goals are embedded in executive and employee compensation for over 7,000 employees. The company is a TNFD early adopter and discloses industry association memberships. However, Scope 3 is not independently verified, and InfluenceMap notes Bunge does not publish a dedicated lobbying disclosure. TCFD-aligned reporting is referenced but no CSRD obligation applies. Board-level governance is strong; assurance coverage and lobbying transparency are incomplete.

Start at 8. Multiple independent, credible NGO reports and documented regulatory actions apply. (1) Forests & Finance (2024) and Friends of the Earth/Global Witness document a persistent pattern of deforestation linkages spanning over a decade; Global Canopy Trase data identifies Bunge as having the largest deforestation exposure for soy in Brazil (−2 credible NGO reports, multiple). (2) Bunge was fined by Brazil's environment agency IBAMA for deforestation-related activities in 2018 (−2 upheld regulatory action). (3) In 2024, a Bunge supplier was fined USD 933,150 for illegal deforestation and satellite evidence confirmed continued soy supply to Bunge from embargoed land — an additional documented supply chain compliance failure (−1). These are three genuinely distinct issues: systemic pattern of supply chain deforestation exposure, direct regulatory fine, and 2024 documented supplier violation. Total deduction: −5. Deductions do not double-count. Two independent third-party sources (Forests & Finance coalition/Global Canopy Trase; Business & Human Rights Resource Centre citing Repórter Brasil investigation) are cited as required for a score ≤4. Positive factors (SBTi targets, TNFD early adoption) are captured in Q5 and Q8 and do not reduce this structural deduction. Lobbying: InfluenceMap finds Bunge advocates for biofuels over renewables and for market forces over regulation, with a 2025 USDA submission prioritising biofuel development. No active lobbying against specific climate legislation found; no mandatory cap triggered. Net score: 8 − 5 = 3.