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Sustainable palm oil: Nestlé supply deal may be a game changer

A recent decision by food giant Nestlé to re-instate a previously banned palm oil supplier on sustainability grounds may help make the business case for more sustainable palm oil. Alex Wilson reports. Mid-September 2011 was a significant moment in the world of sustainable palm oil. After months of long conversations between Greenpeace and the Forest Trust, and a lot more hard work on sustainability policies and improved practices, food giant Nestlé resumed purchasing from the Indonesian Palm Oil producer Smart. In March 2010 Nestlé had dropped Smart and its parent company Golden Agri-Resources (GAR) as a supplier of palm oil, as a result of Greenpeace campaigns against the company. The campaign group had accused SMART of rainforest destruction for the planting of oil palm trees in Indonesia. Smart is ultimately part of the controversial Sinar Mas group, which owns Smart’s parent firm, Golden Agri Resources. The exact connections between all the companies in the group are not easily available, but Sinar Mar links to Smart on its corporate website. In turn, Sinar Mas is ultimately controlled by the Widjaja family, which also owns Asia Pulp & Paper, a company held to be one of the world’s most irresponsible by environmental campaign groups, and a long standing Greenpeace target. More…

News selected by Covalence | Country: Indonesia | Company: Nestlé | Source: Ethical Corporation

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