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Responding to news that the palm oil arm of Sinar Mas, Golden Agri-Resources, has announced a plan to halt the destruction of Indonesia’s forests previously caused by their operations, Bustar Maitar, head of Greenpeace’s campaign to protect Indonesian forests, said: “This could be good news for the forests, endangered species like the orangutan and for the Indonesian economy.

Following the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) rebuke of palm oil giant Sinar Mas, Greenpeace senior forest campaigner Rolf Skar released the following statement:

Greenpeace welcomes Burger King’s cancellation of its palm oil contracts with one of the worst rainforest destroyers on the planet, Sinar Mas, becoming the first company to do so since the producer’s audit was made public last month.

A month before world leaders gather in Bali to decide next steps to combat global warming, Greenpeace today released a report detailing the role played by growing demand for palm oil in Indonesian peat forest destruction and global warming. Many companies, including ADM, Unilever, Cargill, Procter & Gamble, Dove soap, Nestlé, Kraft and Burger King, are driving the demand for palm oil used in food and cosmetics products such as Pringles, KitKat candy, Oreo cookies, and Philadelphia Cream Cheese. The Indonesian peatlands, unique tropical forests whose dense soil can be burned to produce energy and are being destroyed to make way for palm oil plantations, are some of the world’s great carbon sinks and their destruction already accounts for four percent of annual global emissions.

As shareholders arrived at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Sinar Mas palm oil subsidiary Golden Agri Resources (GAR), Greenpeace released new evidence showing the company is breaking its promise to stop destroying Indonesia's rainforests. Rapid deforestation for palm oil plantation expansion in Indonesia is pushing species like endangered orangutans to the brink of extinction. The destruction of rainforests has also made Indonesia the world’s largest greenhouse gas polluter after China and the United States. (1)

In response to Nestle's reaction to the Greenpeace report today, Rolf Skar, senior forest campaigner said:

Greenpeace activists were brutally kicked and punched yesterday morning after they led a peaceful protest at the headquarters of Indonesia’s largest logging and palm oil company, the Sinar Mas Group, in Jakarta. Greenpeace is demanding a halt to continuing destruction of Indonesia’s last remaining ancient forests by the company. The forests are vital in the fight to stop the worst effects of climate change.