The last parcel of Sumatran rainforest in which these three species
all roam – along with rhinos, clouded leopards and sun bears – is
vanishing at a dramatic pace as lucrative palm oil plantations illegally eat into tropical forestland.
The brands source palm oil from this 2.6m hectare Leuser region, via complex supply chains, some involving traders linked to suppliers illegally logging in the region.
Nestlé promised to end deforestation in its supply chain by 2015 in response to Greenpeace’s KitKat campaign of 2010. After Ran’s “Snack food 20” report, this was upgraded to a pledge of “no sourcing from areas converted from natural forests after 1 February 2013”. The target was missed.
“Four years later we can now trace over 90% of our palm oil back to
the mill of origin and almost two thirds back to the plantation level,”
said Nestlé spokeswoman Peggy Diby. “Our ambition is to raise this
figure to 100% by 2020, back to plantation.”
In July, Nestlé told the Guardian it could only source 47% of its
palm oil to plantations, suggesting a big improvement in the last three
months.
Hershey’s said in 2014
that it would source all of its palm oil back to the mill level by
2015, and to plantations by 2016. But its plantation level sourcing
actually fell in 2016 from 27% to 14%, and the commitment has been deferred until 2020.
Greenpeace protestors dressed as orangutans demonstrate against palm oil
harvested from rainforest destruction outside a Nestle shareholders’
meeting. Photograph: Antoine Antoniol/Bloomberg/Getty Images
