Burning down the House: How Unilever and other global brands continue to fuel Indonesia’s fires

Key Facts on Company Links to Indonesia Fires 

Leading consumer goods companies Unilever, Mondelez, Nestle, and Procter & Gamble (P&G), as well as top palm oil traders including Wilmar, are purchasing palm oil from producers linked to scores of fires in Indonesia, according to new research by Greenpeace International. 

Unilever, Mondelez, Nestle and P&G are among the leading consumer goods companies and top palm oil users globally, and have all committed to eliminate deforestation by 2020. Commodities traders Cargill, Wilmar, Musim Mas and GAR are responsible for more than three-quarters of all traded palm oil globally, and supply to countless other consumer brands.

Greenpeace’s key findings include:

• All of the companies buy palm oil from specific plantations under investigation for 2019 fires, and from plantations with court actions against them for 2015-2018 fires. For example, Nestle is sourcing palm oil from 21 palm oil concessions that have been “sealed” by the Indonesian government (i.e. are under investigation), Unilever from 20 concessions, and Mondelez from 19.
• Mondelez (9,900), Nestle (9,400), Unilever (8,900), and P&G (8,400) are each linked to up to 10,000 fire hotspots in 2019 via the palm oil producer groups that supply them.
• There are 30 producer groups most linked to Indonesia’s recurrent fires crises (more than 250 fire hotspots this year and/or largest burned areas in 2015-2018). All of the palm oil producer groups trade to the global market. Mondelez and Nestle buy from 28 of these, Unilever buys from at least 27, and P&G from at least 22. 
• Unilever, Mondelez, Nestle, and P&G each buy palm oil from most of the producer groups with high numbers of fire hotpots in 2019. 
• Unilever, Mondelez, Nestle, and P&G are supplied by palm oil producer groups responsible for 150,000-190,000 hectares of burned land between 2015 to 2018.
• Wilmar – the world’s largest palm oil trader – has links to nearly 8,000 fire hotspots in 2019 and 140,000 hectares of burned land in Indonesia between 2015 to 2018.  
• More than two-thirds of the producer groups that are most linked to recurrent fires have membership in the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

Table: Summary of supply chain links to fires:

Table: Supply chain links to palm oil producer groups most implicated in the fires crisis

X = link revealed in latest trader or brand supply chain disclosures

O = link revealed in latest trader or brand supply chain disclosures but more recent evidence (eg grievance list) suggests purchases may have been suspended 

* See Annex 3 of ‘Burning Down the House’ for further details

Download the Briefing Paper in full.