CHINESE ENTERPRISES’ PRACTICES IN GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF SUSTAINABLE POLICIES OF COFCO GROUP AND MENGNIU DAIRY IN THE CHINA-BRAZIL SOYBEAN SUPPLY CHAIN

Resumo

This paper examines the sustainability practices of COFCO Group and China Mengniu Dairy within the China–Brazil soybean supply chain, showing that the two firms largely converge in strategy and practice. China’s soybean system is highly import-dependent, roughly 80% of crushing demand is met by imports, making soy a cornerstone of the national feed and livestock sector and framing sustainability as supply-chain resilience rather than solely environmental stewardship. Both COFCO and Mengniu have therefore prioritized deforestation and conversion-free (DCF) sourcing, farm-level traceability, third-party verification and supplier governance as core tools to secure long-term supply stability. They have translated these policies into practical cooperation, most visibly through large-scale certified soybean procurement agreements implemented since 2024–2025. At the same time, both firms confront the same structural limits: indirect land-use change (leakage), the exclusion of smallholders from certification pathways, and regulatory–political frictions in Brazil that constrain full implementation of DCF objectives. The study concludes that Chinese corporate sustainability in this sector is best understood as a unified, market-driven governance approach aimed at mitigating supply-risk and meeting rising global expectations, one that yields measurable progress but remains dependent on complementary public policy and inclusive on-farm support to resolve residual sustainability gaps.