Greenpeace report finds global brands not on track to meet palm oil commitments
According to Greenpeace International, eight household brands—Ferrero, Hershey, Kellogg’s, Kraft Heinz, Johnson & Johnson, PepsiCo, PZ Cussons, and Smucker’s—have so far refused to reveal what mills their palm oil comes from, despite promising to stop buying from companies that destroy rainforests. Meanwhile, eight others—Nestlé, Unilever, Colgate-Palmolive, General Mills, Mars, Mondelēz, Procter & Gamble, and Reckitt Benckiser—have made their palm oil supply chains more transparent.
According to Greenpeace International, eight household brands—Ferrero, Hershey, Kellogg’s, Kraft Heinz, Johnson & Johnson, PepsiCo, PZ Cussons, and Smucker’s—have so far refused to reveal what mills their palm oil comes from, despite promising to stop buying from companies that destroy rainforests. Meanwhile, eight others—Nestlé, Unilever, Colgate-Palmolive, General Mills, Mars, Mondelēz, Procter & Gamble, and Reckitt Benckiser—have made their palm oil supply chains more transparent.
This comes as a new report by Greenpeace International, “Moment of Truth,” finds brands are not on track to meet their commitments to a clean palm oil supply chain by 2020.
“Brands have repeatedly promised to end deforestation for palm oil by 2020,” said Kiki Taufik, global head of the Indonesian forests campaign at Greenpeace Southeast Asia. “With less than two years to go they are way off track. Some, such as Nestlé and Unilever, have at least come clean about that. Others, including PZ Cussons, Johnson & Johnson, and Kraft Heinz, are still keeping customers in the dark.”
According to the non-governmental environmental organization, the destruction of Indonesia’s rainforests for palm oil shows no sign of slowing down. “Despite corporate commitments to reform this dirty industry, palm oil remains a high-risk commodity,” said Taufik. “Brands need to come clean about where their palm oil comes from and cut off growers that refuse to change their destructive ways.”
In response to the report, Ferrero confirmed in a statement on its website that it continues to work toward “securing a deforestation-free and exploitation-free palm oil supply chain through active cooperation with NGOs, key stakeholders, and suppliers. Ferrero fully welcomes Greenpeace’s request for further supply chain transparency and agrees that this is an essential component of sustainable sourcing and supply chain responsibility.”
According to the candy company, it had originally agreed with Greenpeace to publish the full list of mills it sources from on Ferrero’s corporate websites by May 15, 2018. Given the report, the company has published the full list of the mills it sources from in advance of the May 15 deadline.