2Sustain

The demand for certified sustainable palm oil is continuing to grow, and last week Cargill announced that it will supply Unilever’s European operations with 10,000 metric tonnes of segregated refined palm oil, certified by the Round Table for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

Unilever, one of the world’s largest buyers of palm oil, plans to be using only sustainable palm oil by 2015. Already this year, over 35 percent is RSPO-certified, indicating that the company is well on its way to achieving that goal. (more…)

Last Wednesday, a day after Greenpeace released a new report airing fresh allegations that the Indonesian paper firm Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) is “wreaking environmental havoc” in rainforests and peatlands, French retail giant Carrefour announced that it has suspended sourcing of APP products.

APP is part of the Sinar Mas group, and the Greenpeace report, titled How Sinar Mas is Pulping the Planet, maintains that the paper company is destroying Indonesia’s rainforests and carbon-rich peatlands so that it can feed its Sumatran based pulp mills, which then export pulp and paper products to a variety retailers worldwide. (more…)

Unilever is now the first global FMCG company to commit to sourcing all of its paper and board packaging from sustainably managed forests or recycled material within a clearly defined timeframe.

Last week, the company announced that it wants to source 75 percent of its paper and board packaging from sustainably managed forests or from recycled material by 2015, rising to a goal of 100 percent from these sources by 2020.

Of course, Unilever is already a recognized leader in sustainable packaging. The company is a founding member of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition and since 1995, has reduced its total waste (kg/tonne of production) by 73 percent. (more…)

Two Tomorrows, an international sustainability consultancy, rated the sustainability efforts of the world’s 10 largest companies in the  food and beverage sector, and Unilever came out on top.

The new Tomorrow’s Value Rating has Unilever in first place, Nestle in second and Danone in third. Rivals Pepsi and Coca-Cola are in fourth and fifth places respectively.

The complete results are available here. (more…)

Unilever, one of the world’s largest buyers of palm oil, has eliminated one of the links in its palm oil supply chain.

The company has stopped all purchases of palm oil from the Indonesian company PT SMART after a Greenpeace report alleged the supplier engages in illegal deforestation and peatland clearance in Indonesia.

The Greenpeace report, “How the palm oil industry is cooking the climate,” didn’t single out Unilever. It also calls on Nestle and Procter & Gamble, to stop sourcing palm oil from irresponsible suppliers.

And, in doing so, it vividly underscores just how difficult it has become to ensure integrity in your supply chain. After all, Unilever, Nestle, and Procter & Gamble are all members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). From Greenpeace: (more…)