The Mighty Earth association accuses the two French companies of marketing products coming from a deforested area of more than 500,000 hectares in Brazil.
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Carrefour and Casino are in the sights of the Mighty Earth association, “Powerful Earth” in French, as COP28 in Dubai enters its final phase. In a report released on the sidelines of the climate conference, the environmental defense organization accuses the two French companies of marketing products resulting from deforestation in Brazil. An area of 546,108 hectares, deforested between 2009 and 2023, is singled out.
Carrefour has stores in Dubai. The French company is accused, like Casino, of having sold beef in its supermarkets that comes from deforested areas of the Amazon and the Cerrado in Brazil, thousands of kilometers from the climate conference. The two French groups are huge in Brazil, explains João Goncalves, Brazilian director of the NGO, Mighty Earth, which has developed a very sophisticated traceability system: “We scan meat items in supermarkets. In Brazil, each product has a code. We are able to say that there is a farm in a deforested area, in the Amazon or in the Cerrado, which has supplied animals to slaughterhouses that sent their meat to supermarkets like Carrefour.”
Accusations denied
The report is erroneous, according to Carrefour, which refuses to be associated with deforestation on nearly 500,000 hectares. The French group, which was alerted in advance by the NGO, says it reacted and cut its ties with problematic farms. Carrefour also ensures that it monitors its suppliers, 33,000 operations, by satellite. “We want to believe them. We’re going to check, it’s very easy to do”replies João Gonçalves
“If I go to a Carrefour store in Brazil in three months and we find the same products, that means that they are not really blocking.”
João Gonçalves, director of the NGO Mighty Earthat franceinfo
Casino, contacted by franceinfo, did not respond to our request for reaction. The company is already the target of legal action in France for breach of its duty of vigilance and participation in deforestation in Brazil. The NGO Mighty Earth also has Brazilian slaughterhouses in its sights. Because, as long as French groups obtain their supplies from slaughterhouses that are regularly questioned, the problem will persist.