Minerva Beef

IFC financing of Minerva S.A. (“Minerva”), the third largest meat processor in Brazil, supported the implementation of a regional expansion program and was supposed to address the environmental and social impacts of cattle ranching in Brazil. Minerva’s four-year investment plan was to: (1) expand the processing and slaughtering operations in South America, more specifically in Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay; (2) potentially develop a slaughtering plant in Colombia; (3) construct, acquire and/or lease six distribution centers across Brazil; and (4) expand the processing capacity of the Minerva Dawn Farms plant in Brazil (the “Project”).

Our recommendation is that IFC document its oversight of Minerva and that this include:

Minerva’s public data from the CAR and GTAs that allow determination of its cattle sourcing. [CAR is the Cadastro Ambiental Rural (Rural Environmental Registry); GTA is an Animal Movement Permit issued by the official veterinary service of the state where animals are located or originate.]

Full documentation of Minerva’s Certification Pilot Program defining progressive targets to purchase beef certified according to the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) Standard of sustainable cattle. This should show dates that targets were met, including evidence that it stopped purchasing from ranchers who commit illegal deforestation or invade protected areas or Indigenous territories, even if cattle cannot be traced to that specific property.

Documentation of how Minerva has prevented cattle from indirect suppliers that commit illegal deforestation or are inside protected areas or Indigenous territories from entering its supply chain, including the changes implemented to achieve this and the plans and logistics put in place so that this covers all its livestock sourcing operations.

Publishing as part of its Environmental and Social Review Summary (ESRS) evidence to show that Minerva complied with all the actions agreed in the Environmental and Social Action Plan (ESAP). Since the ESAP was a key document for IFC to assess whether it was in a good position to divest given that it implied Minerva was in compliance with the PSs, IFC should publish a document with the main actions undertaken by Minerva to comply with the ESAP and PSs in the context of this financing.

A report on lessons learned from its work with Minerva, including what steps beef producers need to implement to prevent illegal deforestation and encroachment on protected areas and Indigenous territories throughout their supply chains, covering both direct and indirect suppliers, and the oversight required by financial institutions to verify this.

Based on the foregoing, update Environmental, Health, and Safety Guidelines for Mammalian Livestock Production and Meat Processing to reflect what is needed to produce meat that can be certified as not contributing to deforestation or degradation of forests and other sensitive biomes, either in the raising/sourcing of animals or their feed.

Last Updated

September 19, 2022

Location

Brazil

Institution

World Bank Group

Campaigns

Climate, Forests and Biodiversity, Indigenous Peoples

Total Cost

US $85 million

Funding

IFC

MDB Financing Status

Active