Deerfield, Ill.– Greenpeace USA activists today unveiled a new “Deforestation Flavor” of Oreo cookies at the global headquarters of one of the world’s largest snack food companies, Mondelez International, the brand’s parent company. Activists delivered a gigantic 5-foot wide Oreo that popped out of a replica package and twisted off its top layer to reveal its filling. The filling featured an illustration of a bulldozer clearing a forest with animals fleeing. The truck carrying the giant cookie brandished a banner reading “Tell Oreo to Drop Dirty Palm Oil.”
“Oreo is known for constantly reinventing and adopting new flavors, but its failure to act on its supply chain has yielded a new flavor: Deforestation,” said Diana Ruiz, Senior Forests Campaigner, Greenpeace USA. “A recent investigation by Greenpeace International show that the palm oil industry continues to destroy Indonesia’s forests, driving species to the brink of extinction, and threatening our climate. Mondelez International is part of the problem as it has sourced from at least 22 palm oil producers involved in deforestation, human right abuses, and exploitative labor practices. Mondelez needs to drop this type of dirty palm oil, starting with Wilmar International, the world’s largest palm oil trader.”
This campaign launch comes weeks after a leading group of scientists declared, in the wake of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, that halting deforestation is “just as urgent” as reducing fossil fuel use in order to avoid catastrophic effects of climate change [1]. Palm oil is a leading driver of the destruction of climate-critical forests and peatlands. Greenpeace documented 25 of the worst producer groups in Indonesia [2], and found evidence of 22 of these groups in Mondelez’ supply chain data for 2017. Between 2015 and 2017 these 22 palm oil companies destroyed over 70,000 hectares of rainforests in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea alone [3].
Despite the fact that Mondelez has committed to eliminate deforestation and exploitation from its supply chain by 2020, the company is far from meeting its deadline. Earlier this year, the company confirmed that it continues to source palm oil from suppliers that are in direct violation of these commitments.
“Oreo is the world’s best selling cookie, and is an iconic and beloved brand,” Ruiz continued. “But no one bites into an Oreo expecting to drive wildlife like orangutans towards extinction or to cook our climate. Years ago, Mondelez pledged to keep deforestation out of its supply chain, but hasn’t kept its promise. Time is running out for Indonesia’s forests and entire populations of species that call the forest home. You don’t need to destroy forests to make palm oil. Companies like Mondelez need to drop dirty palm oil suppliers, starting with Wilmar, until it can prove its palm oil is clean and not destroying forests that are vital to people and the planet.”
Contact: Kate Fried, Greenpeace USA, [email protected], (202) 257.0057
ENDS
[1] Statement from scientists signatories of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2018) “ The world’s forests contain more carbon than exploitable oil, gas, and coal deposits, hence avoiding forest carbon emissions is just as urgent as halting fossil fuel use.” http://www.climateandlandusealliance.org/scientists-statement/
[2] Greenpeace International (2018), Final Countdown. https://www.greenpeace.org/international/publication/18455/the-final-countdown-forests-indonesia-palm-oil/
[3] Dying for a cookie: how Mondelez is feeding the climate and extinction crisis
