Car makers source iron from Brazil that contributes to Amazon deforestation, says Greenpeace ahead of Rio+20
Bloomberg broke a major story in 2006 on US car makers' supply chains being linked to slave charcoal camps, but Greenpeace claims that despite promises from high profile American and European companies such as BMW and General Motors (GM), many continue to buy directly or indirectly from illicit companies.
One might logically that after being named and shamed in an article published 6 years ago perhaps these corporations might change some business practices but you would be wrong and profit always weighs the rights of the labor used and the destruction of the environment.
A new report by Greenpeace uses customs data to link eight international companies to two major Brazilian exporters of pig iron, Viena Siderurgica do Maranhão (Viena) and Siderúrgica do Pará (Sidepar), that the green group says are linked through the supply chain to charcoal suppliers with histories of buying from illegal camps and concealing illicit behaviour.
Ford, General Motors, BMW, Mercedes, Nissan are all linked through a Severstal steel mill in Columbus, Mississippi, that buys from Viena and Severstal, while John Deere and ThyssonKrupp are linked through foundries supplied by the Illinois-based National Material Trading, a metal broker that sources from Viena. Two other metal brokers, Environmental Materials Corporation in Pennsylvania and a division of Cargill in Minnesota were also said by Greenpeace to have imported pig iron from Viena.
Bloomberg broke a major story in 2006 on US car makers' supply chains being linked to slave charcoal camps, but Greenpeace claims that despite promises from high profile American and European companies such as BMW and General Motors (GM), many continue to buy directly or indirectly from illicit companies.
One might logically that after being named and shamed in an article published 6 years ago perhaps these corporations might change some business practices but you would be wrong and profit always weighs the rights of the labor used and the destruction of the environment.
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