Moment of Truth
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COUNTDOWN MOMENTTO EXTINCTIONOF WILL GLOBALTRUTH BRANDS CLEAN UP THE PALM OIL TRADE BEFORE 2020? TIME FOR BRANDS TO COME CLEAN ABOUT THEIR LINKS TO FOREST DESTRUCTION FOR PALM OIL A FROM? COMES PALM OIL WHO THEIR DISCLOSE BRANDS WHICH TRADERS/ SUPPLIERS MILLS/ PRODUCERS 100% CLEAN PALM OIL CONTENTS CRUNCH TIME FOR CLIMATE COMMITMENTS 1 THE HIGH PRICE OF CHEAP PALM OIL 5 ARE CORPORATE COMMITMENTS MORE THAN HOT AIR? 9 HOW TRADERS SCORED ON NDPE IMPLEMENTATION 11 BRANDS ADMIT LINKS TO RAINFOREST DESTRUCTION 12 CONFRONTING THE BRANDS WITH EVIDENCE 15 HOW CONSUMER BRANDS ARE LINKED TO FOREST DESTROYERS 16 FELDA/FELDA GLOBAL VENTURES (FGV) 18 SALIM GROUP 20 SAMLING GROUP 22 TIME FOR ACTION 24 BRANDS MUST DISCLOSE WHERE THEIR PALM OIL COMES FROM... 26 ...AND TAKE CONTROL OF THEIR SUPPLY CHAINS 27 COUNTDOWN TO 2020 29 DEMANDS 31 APPENDIX 1: HOW COMPANIES PERFORM ON TRANSPARENCY 32 APPENDIX 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 42 ENDNOTES 48 REFERENCES 52 ‘ Whilst the causes of deforestation are complex, it is generally acknowledged that the biggest drivers are the cultivation of soya and palm oil, logging for the production of paper and board and the rearing of cattle. All of these commodities are major ingredients in the supply chains of most consumer goods companies. Our member companies drive the demand for these commodities and have an opportunity to ensure that the sourcing of these ingredients does not contribute to deforestation.’1 CONSUMER GOODS FORUM ‘The unsustainable use of natural resources has caused a dramatic decline of Bornean orangutans ... Our findings suggest that more than 100,000 individuals have been lost in the 16 years between 1999 and 2015.’2 MARIA VOIGHT, RESEARCHER AT THE MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR EVOLUTIONARY ANTHROPOLOGY D 11 DECEMBER 2016, 1°3 0 46́ ̋ S 110°15 28́ ̋ E: DRONE FOOTAGE REVEALS A NEW CANAL CUTTING INTO PEATLAND FOREST FROM THE PT DAMAI AGRO SEJAHTERA (PT DAS) OIL PALM CONCESSION WITHIN THE SUNGAI PUTRI PEATLAND LANDSCAPE OF KETAPANG DISTRICT, WEST KALIMANTAN. THE LANDSCAPE IS VITAL HABITAT FOR ORANGUTANS AND OTHER ENDANGERED WILDLIFE. PT DAS IS CONTROLLED BY THE BUMITAMA GROUP, A MEMBER OF THE RSPO. ©GREENPEACE E ‘ Forests and agriculture can get us at least a quarter of the way to meeting the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C. While a rapid decarbonization of the global economy remains essential, aggressive action to reduce emissions from the land sector can buy additional time for this transition. Maximizing mitigation from forests and agriculture requires protecting and restoring forests, improving agricultural practices, and shifting to more sustainable diets.’3 WOODS HOLE RESEARCH CENTER POLICY BRIEF 19 DECEMBER 2017, 8°2 40.87́ ̋S 138°55 22.91́ ̋E: SUNSHINE AND HEAVY RAIN IN THE DISTANCE OVER PEATLAND AND PRIMARY MANGROVE FOREST IN MERAUKE DISTRICT, PAPUA. ©SUKARNO/GREENPEACE F CRUNCH TIME FOR CLIMATE COMMITMENTS Immediate action worldwide to halt deforestation and restore extensive areas of natural forest is key to limiting climate change and biodiversity loss. Halting and beginning to reverse the destruction of the world’s forests for agriculture is the cheapest, quickest and most equitable option to stabilise the climate and buy time for a just transition to a low-carbon economy.4 However, although there is widespread agreement on the need for rapid and far-reaching action, political and corporate commitments are failing to translate into measurable results on the ground. Agricultural commodities such as palm oil continue to drivedeforestation and emissions – and push endangered species like orangutans and tigers ever closer to extinction. Time is running out. Global brands must not walk away from the agreed milestone – an end to the link between deforestation and globally traded commodities by no later than 2020. In 2010, members of the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) brands, including those with ‘no deforestation, no peat, pledged to do their bit to protect forests and limit climate no exploitation’ (NDPE) policies, still use palm oil from change, with a clear commitment to clean up global producers that destroy rainforests, drain carbon-rich commodity supply chains by 2020.5 World governments, peatland and violate the human rights of workers and local emboldened by this pledge and in the knowledge that communities – making their customers complicit in forest stopping deforestation was the easiest and most cost- destruction, climate change and human rights abuses. effective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, At the start of 2018, Greenpeace International challenged incorporated action to address forest destruction into the 16 leading members of the CGF to demonstrate their Paris Agreement on climate change as a key part of their progress towards a clean palm oil supply chain. We called on strategy to mitigate global temperature rise.6 2020 targets them to disclose publicly the mills that produced their palm for halting deforestation and biodiversity loss and for oil, and the names of the producer groups that controlled restoring degraded forests also figure in the United Nations those mills. If disclosed, this information would show whether (UN) Sustainable Development Goals, to be implemented brands had forest destroyers in their supply chains. Eight CGF by ‘all countries and all stakeholders, acting in collaborative brands – Colgate-Palmolive, General Mills, Mars, Mondelēz, partnership’ in order to eliminate poverty and ‘to heal and Nestlé, Procter & Gamble (P&G), Reckitt Benckiser and secure our planet’.7 Unilever – were prepared to hold themselves accountable Yet with less than two years to go until 2020, prior to publication of this report. The others – Ferrero, deforestation to produce commodities such as palm oil Hershey, Kellogg’s, Kraft Heinz, Johnson & Johnson, PepsiCo, shows no sign of slowing down.8 Corporate commitments PZ Cussons and Smucker’s – refused to reveal who produced and policies have proliferated, but companies have their palm oil, thereby concealing the extent of their largely failed to implement them. As a result, consumer complicity in rainforest destruction.9 1 Brands have failed to clean up their supply chains – and the people and environment of palm oil- producing countries are suffering the consequences. Decades of deforestation for plantations has created the ideal conditions for the raging forest and peatland fires – often deliberately set by companiesclearing the land – that regularly threaten the health of people across Southeast Asia and imperil our global climate.10 Exploitation of workers, including the use of child labour, remains endemic in the sector.11 Meanwhile, Indonesia, at the heart of the industry’s expansion, has more threatened and endangered species than any other country on the planet, in many cases as a result of loss of habitat;12 leading conservationists now talk about when, not if, orangutans and other iconic species will become extinct.13 Palm oil is a high-risk commodity. Palm oil traders (typically corporations that also have plantation interests) continue to allow oil from rainforest destroyers into their mills, refineries and distribution systems, and neither governments nor the main industry body – the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) – can currently be relied on to prevent producers from engaging in deforestation or clearing peatland. Accordingly, brands must adopt NDPE policies if they have not already done so, and take responsibility themselves for ensuring that the producer groups14 in their palm oil supply chains comply with those policies as soon as possible, and no later than 2020. Equivalent policies should be enforced across all their commodities. The first step towards achieving this is for each brand to publish a clear, time-bound plan, including an explicit commitment that by 2020, 100% of the palm oil it uses will come from producers whose entire operations have been verified as compliant with its NDPE policy – even if that means using less palm oil than it is using today. Next, brands should open themselves up to public scrutiny by publishing complete lists of the mills and producer groups in their supply chains. Then they must take responsibility for investigating these producer groups to identify any that are clearing rainforests or peatlands, or exploiting workers or local communities. Brands must work with traders to get concession maps, and other data necessary to enable successful monitoring, into the public domain. Ultimately, brands and traders must exclude any producer that refuses to reform, even if the palm oil it is supplying to them comes from different concessions to those it is clearing. By 2020, a responsible brand should be able to demonstrate that all the palm oil it uses comes from reputable producer groups whose operations have been verified compliant with its NDPE policy. At the same time, brands should support the transformation of the entire industry by sourcing only from traders and other suppliers that can show that all the palm oil they sell comes from producers that have been verified compliant with NDPE standards. 2 19 DECEMBER 2017, 8°6 5.94́ ̋S 139°3 6.59́ ̋E: A RIVER WINDS THROUGH PRIMARY MANGROVE FOREST IN THE PT SINERGI TANI NUSANTARA (PT STN) SUGARCANE CONCESSION IN MERAUKE DISTRICT, PAPUA. ©SUKARNO/GREENPEACE MARCH 2013, SUNGAI PUTRI: INTERNATIONAL ANIMAL RESCUE INDONESIA AND GOVERNMENT CONSERVATION STAFF RESCUE A STARVING ORANGUTAN IN THE PT LADANG SAWIT MAS (PT LSM) CONCESSION, WITHIN THE SUNGAI PUTRI PEATLAND LANDSCAPE OF KETAPANG DISTRICT, WEST KALIMANTAN. PT LSM IS CONTROLLED BY THE BUMITAMA GROUP, A MEMBER OF THE RSPO. BUMITAMA HAS CLEARED EXTENSIVE AREAS OF ORANGUTANS’ RAINFOREST HABITAT FOR OIL PALM PLANTATION. ©SABUGO/INTERNATIONAL ANIMAL RESCUE INDONESIA 26 MARCH 2013, 7' °20́ 9.79́ ̋S 13 9°4 5 30.95́ ̋E: SMOKE RISES FROM LONG ROWS OF SMOULDERING DEBRIS FROM RECENT FOREST CLEARANCE IN THE PT DONGIN PRABHAWA OIL PALM CONCESSION IN MAPPI DISTRICT, PAPUA. THE CONCESSION IS CONTROLLED BY THE K O R I N D O G R O U P.