Palm Oil Campaign Updates - Good News!

[Madeline Gardner]

Greetings!

 

In the last few weeks there have been a several exciting steps forward by Kraft and Cargill towards using sustainable palm oil.

Cargill:

• Just announced they’re supplying segregated palm oil to Unilever (parent company of many brands such as slimfast and Hellmans).  According to Cargill, this means that the palm oil will be stamped “sustainable,” having been segregated at every step in the supply chain.
• Just announced the initiation of a supply chain audit in collaboration with World Wildlife Federation.
• They have a planned August assessment of their Harapan Sawit Lestari (HSL) plantation in Borneo.

Read more about it here:  Cargill’s New Palm Oil Deal for Unilever: Can It Be Called Sustainable?

 

Kraft (RAN has not been targeting Kraft directly, but other groups like Greenpeace have. Kraft is a customer of Cargill):

• Sent us an official “statement,” not a policy, summarizing what they have done and what they will do in response to their palm oil concerns. Kraft does not create policies, they only issue statements. Kraft is moving in the right direction, but not anywhere near strong enough, specifically with Cargill language.  In their statement, they said, they believe Cargill is doing everything that is should with regards to palm oil.  Like General Mills, they think they have more leverage as a customer and want to pressure Cargill to do the right thing rather than cancel contracts…

These are good steps in the right direction, but there is still more to be done to get Cargill to stop destroying rainforests. We are continuing to pressure General Mills to cancel their contract with Cargill and to create their own policy on Palm Oil.  Here are our campaign demands for Cargill and General Mills.

 

Thanks for all your work on this campaign!

 

Madeline

--
“The arc of history is long, but it bends towards justice.”
- Martin Luther King Jr.

Madeline Gardner
skype: madeline.gardner
(612) 807-0981

[Ashley Schaeffer]

Thanks for sending this update, Mad!

 

Just to be clear, RAN has been in dialogue with corporate execs at Kraft for about 8 months pushing them to reform, but they are not a public target. Greenpeace is not targeting Kraft either, though the two have been in dialogue as well. RAN and Greenpeace have both pushed Kraft to cancel their direct palm oil contract with worst of the worst Sinar Mas, which Kraft did earlier this year (along with Unilever and Nestle)!  But Kraft still has an indirect contract with Sinar Mas through Cargill (since Kraft gets their palm oil from Cargill, who has a big contract with Sinar Mas).  We’re pushing really hard right now to get Cargill to cancel their contract with Sinar Mas. This would be a huge success and that’s why we need your help pressuring Cargill right now more than ever.

 

Since I’m on this corporate update, I may as well send you the open letter that we just sent to all of our corporate targets this morning in response to a big new development in the palm oil industry. It will be up on our blog tomorrow.

 

Here’s the letter to Cargill:

 

August 10, 2010

 

Mark Murphy

Assistant Vice President, Cargill Corporate Affairs

 

Dear Mark,

 

As you know, Sinar Mas released the controversial findings of their PT Smart audit today, with hopes of using it to clear their name of rainforest destruction and social conflict associated with their palm oil plantation operations.  Rainforest Action Network stands with Greenpeace, Unilever, and many others in rejecting this audit as being neither comprehensive nor representative of PT SMART’s palm oil operations.  We hope that you’ll view this attempted greenwash by Sinar Mas as another sign that the company is not moving forward in good faith towards more sustainable palm oil production. 

 

Problems with the Sinar Mas “audit” that merit immediate action:

 

-          Although the official complaint against Sinar Mas  filed at the RSPO put into question the company’s violations of RSPO principles and criteria, this audit is an initiative of PT SMART and is too limited in scope to provide an accurate assessment of the Sinar Mas Group

-          Further, this “audit” only looks at three PT SMART concessions covering 40% of its plantations area; it does not assess the rest of PT SMART’s concessions including those in Papua or the larger holdings of Golden Agri Resources (GAR), and is therefore not comprehensive enough to provide an adequate   assessment of its palm oil plantation practices

-          The audit shows that PT Smart has destroyed carbon rich peatlands and cleared rainforests for conversion to palm oil plantations

-          The audit  is not based on RSPO Principles and Criteria nor Sinar Mas’ adherence to them

 

In sum, the “Independent Verification Report” that PT Smart paid for and just released is being used by Sinar Mas as a smokescreen to distract attention from what we know to be the many real negative impacts on the ground from their operations on the Islands of Sumatra, Borneo and upcoming threats in New Guinea.  This strongly reinforces the widely held view that U.S. based companies like Cargill cannot rely on Sinar Mas’ misleading claims of sustainability and should reject them.  

 

We are aware that Cargill is “reviewing the results and discussing them with PT SMART in the next few days to decide how [you] wish to proceed.” We urge you to make a formal response to our concerns and to take proactive action now and cancel all direct and indirect contracts with Sinar Mas. 

 

Sincerely,

Bill Barclay

 

Rainforest Agribusiness Campaign Corporate Communications & Interim Program Director

Rainforest Action Network

 

That’s all for now.

 

Thanks for all of your amazing work helping us move Cargill towards the light!

 

Ashley