TYSON FOODS, INC. | Eliminating deforestation from supply chains at Tyson Foods, Inc.

Status
3.31% votes in favour
AGM date
Proposal number
3
Resolution details
Company ticker
TSN
Lead filer
Individual
Resolution ask
Report on or disclose
ESG theme
  • Environment
ESG sub-theme
  • Biodiversity / nature
  • Land use inc. deforestation
Type of vote
Shareholder proposal
Filer type
Shareholder
Company sector
Consumer Staples
Company HQ country
United States
Resolved clause
Resolved: Shareholders request that Tyson accelerate its efforts to eliminate deforestation, native vegetation conversion, and primary forest degradation from its supply chains to achieve independently verified deforestation-free supply chains by 2025.
Whereas clause
Whereas: Tyson Foods uses beef, palm oil, soy, and fiber-based packaging in its business. These commodities are leading drivers of deforestation, forest degradation, and native vegetation conversion, which are responsible for approximately 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Further, deforestation is a primary cause of biodiversity loss. It is estimated that 40 percent of the world’s economy relies on biodiversity and natural capital.
Companies should protect their supply chains by eliminating deforestation linked commodities and by completing biodiversity dependency and impact assessments such as those aligned with the Taskforce for Nature Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) framework.
Companies that do not eliminate deforestation linked commodities and address biodiversity dependencies are vulnerable to material risks, such as supply chain vulnerability, reputational risk, and regulatory risk. In its 2022 10-K, Tyson disclosed that “climate change and legal or regulatory responses may have a long-term adverse impact on our business and results of operations.”
Tyson sources beef from Brazil, where according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), cattle ranching accounts for 80% of deforestation in the surrounding region. While Tyson has developed a Forest Protection Standard, it will not achieve 100% deforestation-free beef from Latin America until the end of 2028 or deforestation free soy and palm used in animal feed until 2030. The Amazon biome may reach an unsustainable tipping point well before then. Research published in Nature Climate Change found that the Amazon is “close to a critical threshold of rainforest dieback.”
Tyson has committed to setting 1.5 degrees Celsius-aligned emissions targets with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), yet to qualify, the company will have to set zero deforestation targets for no later than 2025. Tyson may be unable to deliver on its climate commitment if it does not eliminate supply chain deforestation by 2025.

At the COP 26 climate conference, investors with nearly $9 trillion in assets committed to eliminate commodity-driven deforestation from their portfolios by 2025. Tyson may become uninvestable for some asset managers if it does not eliminate supply chain deforestation by this date.
Supporting statement
Supporting Statement: In achieving this goal, proponents defer to management’s discretion but recommend:

•Including native vegetation conversion and primary forest degradation in the company’s deforestation-free goal.

•Disclosing the company’s forest footprint and annual reporting of deforestation-free commodity volumes.

•Completing a material biodiversity dependency and impact assessment in line with the Task Force for Nature Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) Framework.

•Disclosing scope 3 emissions related to deforestation and other land-use change.

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