Partnering with Raizen, innovators in sustainability

We recently agreed a 10-year supply agreement with Brazilian raw cane sugar miller, Raizen. Raizen is one of Brazil’s biggest sugar producers, and it occupies a leadership position in sustainability.

Raízen’s mills are supplied by both its own cane farms and independent cane farms. To ensure the sustainability of its entire chain, the company uses two complementary verification and certification schemes – the Bonsucro standard and ELO.

For its own sugarcane production, where Raízen leases land, plants and cultivates sugarcane, the Bonsucro Standard helps measure productivity alongside key environmental and social impacts, such as biodiversity and ecosystem management, human rights risks, and labour conditions.

For the sugarcane from third-party farmers, whose operations are not managed by Raízen, the ELO programme helps farmers assess and demonstrate sustainable production. The ELO scheme was developed in 2014 by Raízen, in partnership with Imaflora and Solidaridad, and has since been officially granted equivalence by two reputable sustainability programmes; the Farm Sustainability Assessment (FSA), and the Bonsucro Production Standard.

The programme is a voluntary sustainability initiative which certifies producers against 34 criteria including economic sustainability, environmental responsibility, and respect for human and labour rights. It encourages and supports the continuous improvement of the practices of Raizen’s sugarcane suppliers using an innovative software programme which generates individual recommendations for improving practices.