IDB Invest, the private arm of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group, is no longer considering a $43 million loan package for Marfrig Global Foods’ (MRFG3.SA) Brazilian beef operations.
This follows a public letter signed by BIC and more than 200 other groups that was sent in October 2021 to IDB Invest’s board of directors, citing potential bank policy violations associated with the loan such as illegal deforestation and Indigenous land rights violations. The letter also opposed the proposed loan because of Marfrig’s history of corruption and greenwashing, claiming sustainably sourced cattle that turned out to be linked to illegal deforestation and land grabbing.
Public development finance should not be channeled to large-scale industrial livestock operations like Marfrig that fuel deforestation and the climate crisis. This is particularly true in the Amazon region, given the problems inherently related to the industrial beef sector. Additionally, development finance should never support private companies, such as Marfrig, with histories of social and environmental rights violations that have yet to be remedied.
See reporting by Bloomberg and Valor, among others, as well as, the press release from our partners at Friends of the Earth.