2Sustain

Back in March, I wrote about McDonald’s new Sustainable Land Management Commitment (SLMC). Now, McDonald’s has extended this commitment even more by joining the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), an organization that promotes the growth and use of sustainable oil palm products through credible global standards and engagement of stakeholders.

As a result of its membership in the RSPO, McDonald’s says that by the end of this year, it will source palm oil only from RSPO member companies. By 2015, only RSPO-certified palm oil will be used in McDonald’s restaurants, pre-cooked chicken and potato products.

This new focus on palm oil comes after an analysis conducted as part of McDonald’s SLMC.  The company, in collaboration with World Wildlife Fund (WWF), identified which of its raw materials have the most potential sustainability impacts. The list includes beef, poultry, coffee, fiber for packaging and palm oil –and so McDonald’s is going to center its attention on those areas. (more…)

By late 2015, SC Johnson will buy only sustainable palm oil.

This new policy affects just a few of SC Johnson’s products. But nonetheless, it represents yet another critical step in the company’s long-term commitment to using sustainable ingredients and communicating openly about them. Plus, SC Johnson, which industry experts often recognize as a leading green brand, now can join other companies such as McDonald’s and Kellogg, which already have similar policies in place.

Palm oil is used in food products, consumer packaged goods and as a biofuel. For SC Johnson, it works as a stabilizer in some of the company’s home cleaning products (meaning that the palm oil helps maintain the consistency of a product so it will work better). SC Johnson says it also uses a small amount in some of its air care products.

The problem is that current palm oil production methods are wreaking havoc on the environment. In fact, researchers estimate that, as is stands now, only a mere six percent of the global supply of palm oil is sustainably grown. Consequently, the vast majority of palm oil production is driving large-scale destruction of rainforests across southeast Asia. (See this Greenpeace report for more details about the critical importance of sustainable palm oil production.) (more…)

McDonald’s Corporation is stepping up its commitment to a sustainable supply chain.

Last week, the company announced a new Sustainable Land Management Commitment (SLMC), which McDonald’s says will ensure the food served in its restaurants around the world is sourced from certified sustainable sources.

The SLMC requires that, over time, McDonald’s suppliers source agricultural raw materials for the company’s food and packaging only from sustainably-managed land.

Initially, McDonald’s will focus on the five raw materials that have the most potential sustainability impacts: beef, poultry, coffee, palm oil and packaging. As part of this commitment, McDonald’s is: (more…)

Worldwide demand for palm oil is enormous. According to the WWF, palm oil can now be found in about half of the packaged supermarket products that consumers buy every day. Plus, it’s increasingly used as a biofuel.

Unfortunately, though, researchers estimate that only six percent of the current global supply of palm oil is sustainably grown. As it stands now, the vast majority of palm oil production is driving large-scale destruction of rainforests across southeast Asia. (See this Greenpeace report for more details about the critical importance of sustainable palm oil production.)

Fortunately, a handful of food manufacturers recognize the devastating environmental impact of current palm oil production methods, and they are beginning to take action.

Earlier this month, Kellogg Company has announced that it wants to become a leader in this area, too. The company says it wants to purchase sustainable palm oil –but that can only happen if a segregated palm oil supply is available that is financially and logistically feasible. In the meantime, Kellogg will help fund sustainable palm oil production through purchasing GreenPalm certificates covering 100 percent of its global palm oil use. Kellogg is the first in the US food industry to take this step.

The company is also: (more…)

Forest Footprint Disclosure (FFD) has launched its second Annual Review, identifying how international companies that have direct exposure to forest risk commodities (FRCs) are responding to increasing pressure from deforestation.

These FRCs include timber, soy, cattle products, palm oil and biofuels.

Unfortunately, it appears that many of these FRCs are choosing to ignore deforestation risks. This year, FFD approached 285 companies for its annual review, and only 78 companies (27 percent) responded. (See the full list here.) In the Reveiw, FFD calls on more businesses to recognize the importance of changes in regulation and policy relating to protecting forested lands and the need for managements to assess their risk exposure in more detail.

“It’s not just environmental good sense, it makes increasingly sound business sense to understand and reduce deforestation pressures driven by agricultural expansion right now – to prepare for both future legislation and market opportunities,” Tracey Campbell, Director of the FFD Project, said.

More specifically, the review highlighted these four specific business impacts that could result from not engaging on this important issue: (more…)