Leading environmental groups Greenpeace International and Mighty Earth have issued an open letter to McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski, urging the fast-food giant to intervene as major soy traders abandon the Amazon Soy Moratorium.
The letter calls on McDonald's to use its significant market influence to secure a renewed pledge from key traders - including Cargill, Bunge, ADM, and Louis Dreyfus Company - to remain committed to the criteria of the landmark zero-deforestation pact. It further demands that McDonald's makes it "unequivocally clear" that the company will cut ties with any suppliers that withdraw from or fail to uphold zero deforestation commitments.
Lis Cunha, Campaigner at Greenpeace International said:
"The world's largest soy traders pulling out of the Amazon Soy Moratorium is not merely a policy shift; it is a retreat from a mechanism that has been a primary bulwark against ecological collapse. As one of the world's most recognisable brands and a founding member of the pact, McDonald's has a moral responsibility to do all it can to prevent its partners from turning their backs on zero deforestation."
The letter notes in particular McDonald's over 45 year corporate partnership with Cargill, who is among a number of the world's biggest soy traders now reportedly backing away from the Amazon Soy Moratorium.[1] Signatories warn that Cargill and other major suppliers abandoning the Moratorium render it "functionally impossible" for McDonald's to guarantee its soy supply chains are not linked to new deforestation of the Amazon, violating McDonald's global commitment to halting deforestation.[2]
McDonald's played a pivotal role in establishing the Moratorium 20 years ago after Greenpeace International's Eating Up the Amazon report exposed how soy grown on deforested land was entering the company's poultry supply chain. In response to global pressure and activist "chicken" protests at its restaurants, McDonald's led a coalition of retailers to demand that commodity traders halt the expansion of soy into newly deforested areas.[3] Since its adoption, the Moratorium helped reduce the share of soy grown on newly deforested land in the Amazon from 30% to less than 4% as of July 2025.
Boris Patentreger, forests and nature lead at Mighty Earth said:
"McDonalds can be a saboteur or a saviour of the Soy Moratorium zero deforestation goal. The fast-food giant must choose to fight for a mechanism that has spared huge swathes of the Amazon rainforest from being destroyed over the last twenty years. That means holding the big soy traders to their commitments and cutting ties with suppliers abandoning the ASM. Or sourcing only from those who comply with the moratorium criteria and continue to implement their DCF policies, without rolling back. There cannot be a soy-free-for-all that will push the Amazon ever closer to collapse."
On 5 January 2026, the Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries (ABIOVE), which represents the largest companies involved in Brazil's soy industry, announced plans to withdraw from the Soy Moratorium, following new legislation in Mato Grosso that strips tax benefits from companies participating in voluntary environmental pacts. If the Moratorium collapses, estimates suggest deforestation in the Amazon could surge by as much as 30% by 2045 as producers revert to weaker legal standards that allow for the clearing of primary rainforest. ABIOVE and many of its members completed their withdrawal on 16 February.
