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>> Sustainability Policy – Breakdown


Vision and Strategy

Bunge puts its commitment to sustainable development in its operations in all the countries in which it is present into practice by means of its Sustainability Policy.

For Bunge, sustainability is based on 3 pillars:

• Economic Performance
  Partnerships with farmers and other stakeholders, generating employment, income and wealth for the country.

• Social Responsibility
  Belief in participating in the community, upholding values of corporate responsibility and fomenting policies that benefit everyone.

• Environmental Responsibility
  Concern for natural resources and respect for the environment, promoting policies and actions that integrate man and nature.

Sustainability Policy

For this reason, Bunge’s Sustainability Policy sets forth the following commitments:

• To associate business objectives with social and environmental responsibility issues.
• To go beyond mere compliance with local environmental legislation and other requirements applicable to its processes, products and services.
• To promote ongoing environmental improvement and sustainable development, applying management principles, performance indicators and environmental risk assessments.
• To invest in the development of partners, who should understand the concepts employed and present their vision of the process.
• To maintain an open and ethical posture in all business activities and relations.
• To generate value, employment, income and wealth for the communities and countries in which the company operates.
• To demonstrate social responsibility, striving to meet the needs of the communities in which it operates and promoting the responsible use of natural resources.
• To contribute to the development of citizenship through actions which promote education and knowledge.

Printing Version

The Bunge Sustainability Policy in Brazil consists of a series of company guidelines projected to promote economic development in the regions in which the organization operates, respecting the environment and  enhancing social responsibility on the part of our operating units.

Within the sustainability policy, initiatives that translate the company’s positioning into practical actions may be highlighted:

The Policy Regarding Environmental Issues:

• Association of business objectives with principles of socio-environmental responsibility: Bunge companies’ objectives are in consonance with local socio-environmental needs. Worthy of mention are:

• The development of environmental education centers so that company employees and local communities are aware of needs and engaged in environmental preservation initiatives;
• Analysis of energy supplies with a view to incorporating renewable resources, developing suppliers in accordance with environmental conservation criteria and the adoption of alternative energy sources;
• Generation of thermal energy which in the coming years will ensure sustainability in the supply of reforested timber, where shown to be the most viable energy source for operations. Bunge expects to be self-sufficient in energy by 2012.
• Environmental logistics study: we are studying and concentrating on identifying and adopting methods and means of transport that minimize the direct and indirect negative socio-environmental impacts of product transportation.

• Compliance with local environmental legislation and other requirements applicable to the companies’ processes, products and services: More than just complying with legislation, our actions reflect a constant striving to go beyond and provide resources that will value the environment for the community. Some examples are the following:

• Pioneer in fertilizer sector with ISO 14001 certification, in addition to pollution prevention and waste minimization programs;
• Packaging recycling projects, integrated with cultural incentive actions;
• Partnerships with NGOs to raise awareness among farmers as to maintenance of legal reservations on farms and the reconstitution of regional flora and fauna.
• Supply grains contracts with farmers contain a unilateral rescission clause in the event that suppliers are found guilty for environmental and social violations.

• Promotion of ongoing environmental improvement and sustainable development, with application of environmental risk management principles, assessments and performance indicators: Companies’ actions driving the incorporation of environmental management in the business include:

• Courses and meetings on sustainable agriculture, with investment in training the internal team and extension of this knowledge to the producing regions;
• Investment in and promotion of precision farming to optimize and optimize application of agricultural inputs;
• Management and sponsorship of events to value and promote studies of the environment, establishing farms in compliance with the environmental legislation and the adoption of practices that optimize productivity while conserving the soil, water resources and biodiversity;
• Agricultural expansion: diminishing impacts by means of suitable planning and zoning for soil use, identifying regions of high biodiversity value and protecting important areas of natural vegetation;
• Appying the GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) methodology for the Bunge Annual Sustainability Report in Brazil. This international standard enables us to set performance targets based on established benchmarks and present our achievements using common metrics that facilitate understanding and allow for comparisons with other companies.

The Policy Regarding Economic Development:

• Investment in preparation of partners, who should understand the concepts employed and present their vision of the process: Bunge promotes interaction and encourages its commercial partners, be they suppliers or customers, to adopt and multiply basic principle of corporate good conduct and to promote the economic development of the community: The company:

• Favor local labor;
• Contribute to professional development institutions in the community;
• Contract and train student interns and are open to working with local educational institutions;
• Value regional centers, enabling the improvement of the infrastructure of cities in the diverse regions where the company operates;
• Invest in ports and logistics, stimulating the development of society as a whole.

• Ethics and transparency in all business activities and relations: all company employees involved in negotiations with suppliers or customers must sign the Bunge’s Code of Ethics, standardizing our relations for purposes of internal and external audits, as well as ensuring the correctness of all transactions.

• Our raw material purchases are done under contract, as are all large scale materials purchases; these are undertaken by central areas to ensure greater control;
• Our input and raw material sales are undertaken under contract, ensuring clarity about our positioning and recommendations for use of such goods;
• Marketing strategies are based on the transmission of Bunge values in all advertising. The solutions proposed are made explicit to ensure consumers are fully informed about the company’s products, in compliance with the legislation in force.

The Policy Regarding Social Responsibility Matters:

• Demonstrating social responsibility while striving to meet the needs of the communities where the company operates: All company plants are supported by the community relations area, where regional demands may be more thoroughly analyzed and dealt with. In addition to several local partnerships, some lines of work are worthy of mention, such as:

• Partnerships with universities, valuing the academic work of the students;
• Partnerships with research institutes, leveraging scientific production and social development;
• Sponsorship of cultural projects, promoting culture at the company’s diverse levels of social relationship.

• Contributing to the development of citizenship through valuing education and knowledge: Through the Fundação Bunge, for over fifty years the Bunge companies in Brazil have been paying homage to the most diverse areas of knowledge and expression, such as the arts, journalism, agribusiness and literature. The Fundação Bunge Award is a landmark in the recognition of the intellectual production in the country in the public, private and academic sectors. Other notable initiatives aimed at involving employees, partners and the community in social initiatives include:

• Educational Community, where employees undertake volunteer work with elementary public school students to promote and value citizenship;
• Recicriar Program, investing in the development of innovative techniques and professional development of teachers;
• Teachers of Brazil Award, valuing teachers and outstanding initiatives in the classroom;
• Bunge Memory Center, making the history and the presence of the Bunge Group in Brazil and its contribution to the economic, social and environmental development of the country, open to public.

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