One of the world’s largest palm oil traders today made a significant
commitment to address deforestation and exploitation throughout its supply
chain.
For our press release and contacts for interview requests, please see
below.
Palm oil giant IOI moves to eliminate deforestation and human rights
abuses from supply chain
Jakarta, 28 April 2017 - The IOI Group, one
of the world’s largest palm oil traders, today made a significant commitment to
address deforestation and exploitation throughout its supply chain. [1]
Greenpeace has suspended its active campaign to give IOI time to show it is
serious about reform.
Today’s announcement comes one year after the
Malaysian company was suspended from the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil
(RSPO) for clearing peatlands in Kalimantan, Indonesia. [2] Dozens of companies
including Unilever, Mars and Nestlé cancelled contracts with IOI as a result.
[3]
If properly implemented, IOI’s commitments would be a significant
step towards eliminating deforestation and exploitation in the palm oil
industry. IOI has agreed to independent third-party verification of its progress
in one year’s time.
Kiki Taufik, Global Head of Greenpeace's Indonesian
Forests Campaign, said:
“IOI has come a long way in the past twelve
months, and has now started taking meaningful action to eliminate forest
destruction and human rights abuses from its supply chain. Greenpeace will be
watching closely to make sure IOI follows through. There is still a lot of work
to be done to clean up the palm oil industry and we expect other traders to
respond with action plans of their own.”
Since January, IOI has begun
proactively monitoring its palm oil suppliers to ensure they are not destroying
rainforests or peatlands. It has agreed to work with NGOs to find a solution to
the social conflict between the communities of Long Teran Kanan and the
IOI-Pelita joint venture in Sarawak, Malaysia. [4] IOI also committed to change
its practices to respect the rights of plantation workers and has commissioned a
consultant to verify its progress on labour issues.
Greenpeace advises
companies intending to resume trade with IOI to specify in their contracts that
the company must demonstrate ongoing progress in line with its Sustainable Palm
Oil Policy and the additional commitments it has made today.
Palm oil is
the most widely-used vegetable oil in the world, but the industry has a
well-deserved reputation for rainforest destruction and human rights abuses. [5]
The major palm oil traders have ‘no deforestation’ policies, but have done
little to ensure their suppliers meet these standards. [6] As a result, many
household brands are still supplied by palm oil growers that destroy rainforests
or exploit workers and local communities. [7]
“Consumers have had enough
of the palm oil industry failing to deliver. Companies cannot keep ignoring
forest destruction and human rights abuses. The only way to clean up the
industry is for other palm oil traders to follow IOI’s lead and start cutting
off suppliers that destroy rainforests or abuse workers.” said
Taufik.
Over the past ten years, dozens of civil society organisations
have been pushing IOI to reform. [8] A complaint from NGO AidEnvironment led to
the company being suspended from the RSPO in April 2016. Hundreds of thousands
of Greenpeace supporters took part in the campaign, which included a blockade of
IOI’s palm oil refinery in Rotterdam and a protest at its headquarters in Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia. [9]
Greenpeace is calling on other palm oil traders,
such as Wilmar International and Golden Agri Resources, to publish similar plans
to identify suppliers that are clearing forests, draining peatlands or
exploiting workers and exclude those that won’t reform.
Companies that
buy palm oil should require their suppliers to demonstrate how they will ensure
deforestation and other unacceptable practices are eliminated from their supply
chain.
ENDS
Notes to EditorsImages available
here
1. IOI’s statement is available
here2.
In March 2015, NGO AidEnvironment submitted a formal complaint to the Roundtable
on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) regarding the destruction of High Conservation
Value forests and peatlands in IOI’s plantations in Kalimantan, Indonesia. The
RSPO suspended IOI in April 2016, although it lifted the suspension in August
2016. AidEnvironment and IOI published a joint statement in December 2016
declaring the case resolved.
3. See, for instance,
here.
4.
http://www.rspo.org/members/complaints/status-of-complaints/view/45.
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/publications/Campaign-reports/Forests-Reports/Under-Fire/6.
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/publications/Campaign-reports/Forests-Reports/A-Deadly-Trade-off/7.
In November 2016,
an
investigation by Amnesty International found human rights abuses, including
child labour, in plantations controlled by Wilmar International, the world’s
largest palm oil trader.
8. For example, 26 Indonesian and international NGOs
signed an
open letter about IOI in May 2016.
9.
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/press/releases/2016/Greenpeace-blockades-palm-oil-trader-IOI-in-Rotterdam-/Media
Contacts:Kiki Taufik, Global Head of Indonesian Forest Campaign,
ph:
+628118706074Annisa Rahmawati, Senior Forest Campaigner, Greenpeace
Southeast Asia, ph:
+628111097527Sol Gosetti, International Communication
for Indonesian Forest Campaign, Greenpeace Southeast Asia, ph
+447807352020Greenpeace International Press Desk,
pressd...@greenpeace.org,
phone:
+31 (0) 20 718 2470 (available 24 hours)
--
Tristan Tremschnig
Communications Hub Manager | Asia
Pacific