Sustainability

As a leading global agribusiness, LDC recognizes its critical role in helping to limit global warming in line with Paris Agreement goals, by accelerating action toward low-carbon food and agricultural production.

In November 2022 at COP 27, we cemented our commitment alongside co-signatories to a sectoral roadmap for action consistent with a 1.5º Celsius global warming limit, including through accelerated action in supply chains considered to be at higher risk for deforestation. As a Group, we chose to go beyond sectoral commitments with our pledge to eliminate deforestation and conversion of native vegetation for agricultural purposes in our supply chains by the end of 2025, adopting specific reference (or cut-off) dates: November 2016 for palm, January 2020 for soy and other commodities.

In 2022, our Grains & Oilseeds Platform also continued to expand its network of certified deforestation-free producers, increase chain of custody certified sites and significantly grow volumes of deforestation-free soymeal sold under international sustainability standards. For example, more than 25% of soymeal shipped to France in 2022 were fully FEFAC certified, positioning LDC as a leader in this space.

In October, we launched a new Coffee sustainability strategy that includes the establishment of the Stronger Coffee Initiative, aiming to transform coffee communities, restore soil health and reduce climate change through coalition-led investments that support the adoption of more sustainable farming practices.

Indeed, we believe that engagement with farmers across all agricultural business lines is key to promoting lasting positive change, and bringing these key stakeholders into dialogue and discussions on sustainable production is a cornerstone of our sustainability approach. In 2022, we continued to do so ourselves and in collaboration with partners worldwide, including through joint projects with the Louis Dreyfus Foundation, empowering farming communities connected with our operations and activities across three continents.

Our Freight Platform also made positive strides. Continuing to explore alternative fuel options, we completed a successful biofuel trial on a carbon neutral juice shipment. Moreover, among a variety of ongoing shipping decarbonization projects, we installed sensors on vessels to measure and improve efficiency, commissioned a feasibility study on wind propulsion and delivered our first independently verified Sea Cargo Charter emission report.

Driven and measured by our our dedicated Carbon Solutions Platform, we also made headway on our global decarbonization journey, with efforts to reduce emissions in our operations in several locations and regions, for example through low-carbon technologies, energy optimization projects and renewable energy purchase agreements, and taking important steps to calculate our Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions footprint, with a view to report on these from 2023, and as a basis to set emissions reduction targets for the Group.

In 2022, we also initiated discussions and projects to review and realign strategic priorities for sustainability, as well as associated reporting, where we conducted a corporate sustainability materiality assessment. These efforts are in line with best practice and in accordance with our commitment to driving transparency, sustainable practices and lasting positive impact across our business activities and value chains. Our upcoming 2022 Sustainability Report will report extensively on our progress in this sense.