In response to Kellogg’s revised global palm oil policy, Greenpeace USA Senior Palm Oil Campaigner Diana Ruiz says:
“Kellogg’s continues to act as if another long-winded policy commitment would save the world. The company promised a decade ago to eliminate links to deforestation by 2020 and it has failed. Kellogg’s new global palm oil policy, released on February 6, 2020, continues to rely on the RSPO certification scheme to meet its sustainability commitments. The company extended its deadline by five more years to achieve a plan they couldn’t fulfill in the last decade. While the plan introduces new requirements for its suppliers, it also acknowledges its failure in making transparency a requirement for all of its suppliers. This is still another policy with no serious enforcement and a reliance on a certification that is not fit for a 1.5 degree world.
“Kellogg does not present the robust visionary action needed by the private sector to address climate change. The policy is only further evidence that governments cannot look to the private sector to deliver the change to address the climate change and the biodiversity crisis.
“For decades, Kellogg’s and other private sector companies have been buying commodities that have direct links to forest destruction, peatland destruction, and exploitation. Despite pledging to eliminate links to deforestation by 2020, private sector companies like Kellogg’s have defaulted on massive social and environmental debt.
“We’ve seen how corporations in the last decade have turned a blind eye to the destruction of forests and the use of fires that underpins the growing demand for palm oil, pulp and paper, and other high risk commodities. Greenpeace’s Burning Down the House report found 30 palm oil producer groups associated with Indonesia’s fires crisis — 21 of those groups are members of the RSPO.[1] These deliberate fires were used to clear forests and peatlands for agriculture that includes palm oil, pulp and paper. The fires in Indonesia during the summer months emitted 360 million metric tons of CO2[2] and were linked to RSPO members. This proves that companies cannot rely on producers’ RSPO certification as a guarantee of sustainability.
“To save Indonesia’s rainforests and help limit global warming to below 1.5 degrees Celsius, brands must commit to using significantly less palm oil and ensure any they do use comes from suppliers that are 100 percent deforestation-free.”
[1]https://storage.googleapis.com/planet4-international-stateless/2019/11/5c8a9799-burning-down-the-house-greenpeace-indonesia-fires-briefing.pdf
[2]https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2020-fire-emissions/
Contact:
Katie Nelson, Strategic Communications Specialist – Greenpeace USA, (678) 644-1681, [email protected]
