Nestle uses palm oil in a wide array of its products - including
Kit Kat. Demand for palm oil has been increasing so much that the
companies that sell it are leveling rainforests in Indonesia to
make way for palm oil plantations.
We need those rainforests. They play a crucial role in
regulating our climate and absorbing CO2. The companies
that produce palm oil are cutting down the lungs of the planet and
contributing to making Indonesia the third largest carbon emitter
after the United States and China.
Yes, you read that right. Deforestation is actually responsible
for more carbon emissions than all the cars, trucks, planes, and
automobiles in the world: 1/5 of total emissions.
But that's not all. Deforestation is also trashing orang-utan
habitat, pushing this already endangered species to the brink of
extinction, and destroying the livelihoods of local people.
Nestlé's palm oil supplier Sinar Mas is responsible for
considerable rainforest and orang-utan habitat destruction.
Bottom line: it's time for Monkey to give rainforests a break
and stop buying palm oil that comes from destroyed forests.
Nestle is the largest food and drinks company in the world, and
already a major consumer of palm oil - the last three years have
seen Monkey's use of palm oil almost double. Considering its size
and influence, it should be setting an example for the industry and
ensuring its palm oil is destruction free. Instead, Nestle
continues to buy from companies, like Sinar Mas, that are
destroying Indonesia's rainforests and peatlands.
Palm oil producers like Sinar Mas are destroying vast tracts of
rainforest for palm oil, pushing orang-utans to the brink of
extinction, endangering local communities' survival and
accelerating climate change.
Sinar Mas: 'Notorious forest destroyer'
Sinar Mas is the largest producer of palm oil in Indonesia. It
supplies many food, drink,cosmetic and biofuel companies worldwide
- including Nestle. Sinar Mas is also breaking Indonsian law by
clearing protected forests for its palm oil plantations.
Greenpeace's new report launched today - 'Caught Red-Handed: How
Kit Kat's Use of Palm Oil is Having a Devastating Impact on
Rainforest, the Climate and Orang-utans' - exposes the links
between Nestle and palm oil suppliers, including Sinar Mas, that
are expanding their plantations into carbon-rich peatlands and
rainforests. Not only are these areas key habitat for orang-utans,
but also crucial carbon stores; the destruction of these areas is a
major cause of Indonesia's rocketing carbon emissions.
Vast tracts of Indonesian rainforest are being destroyed to make
way for palm oil palm plantations.
None of this should come as a surprise to Nestle. We have
contacted them with evidence of Sinar Mas's practices many times,
most recently in December, yet Nestle continues to use Sinar Mas
palm oil in its products, including Kit Kat. Other leading
companies have stopped buying from Sinar Mas as a result of its
shocking environmental and social practices. Unilever canceled a
$30 USD million dollar contract last year, while Kraft canceled its
contract last month.
We know consumer activism works: we've seen it again and again.
And we know that if enough of us tell Nestle that we're not going
to put up with any monkeying around, they will do the right thing.
But we need you to tell them. And we need you to tell your friends
to tell them.
You can tell them that Indonesia has the fastest rate of
deforestation of any major forested country in the world - earning
it an unfortunate place in The Guinness Book of World Records.
Indonesia's rainforests deserve a break.
Channels like these are dug by plantation companies to drain
carbon-rich peatland, before the area is cleared and burnt in
preparation for planting.
Ask Nestle to stop using palm oil that comes from companies that
are destroying rainforests. Ask them to cancel their contracts with
the worst suppliers, like Sinar Mas, engage with the palm oil
industry and Indonesian government, and call for peatland
protection and an immediate end to deforestation. Tell Monkey that
when you have a break - you want it to be free from forest
destruction.
Take action
Watch the Kit Kat spoof video and ask Nestle to stop using palm oil from destroyed forests!
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