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American FMCG giant Procter & Gamble (P&G) has committed to a new no deforestation policy that will provide full traceability for all the palm oil and derivatives it uses.
The company announcement comes after weeks of public pressure over the company’s palm oil sourcing practices, orchestrated by Greenpeace International.
Its campaign attracted support from nearly 400,000 people who called for P&G to take measures to stop the destruction of habitat that is home to the Sumatran tiger and the orangutan, amongst other species.??
P&G has now promised to take measures removing all deforestation from its palm oil supply chains by 2020. The policy goes beyond existing criteria from the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and requires the company’s suppliers to guarantee there will be no conversion of peatland, that the rights of local communities will be respected and that high carbon and high conservation value areas will be protected.
“Their commitment today is another step towards responsible supply chains and ending deforestation in the world’s rainforests,” commented Areeba Hamid, a forest campaigner with Greenpeace International. “But the policy is not perfect. It leaves suppliers six more years to clear forests. With global warming and rapid biodiversity loss, we urge P&G to take action against suppliers, such as Musim Mas and KLK that have been identified to be clearing forests and peatlands.”
The move follows news from the RSPO that sales of certified sustainable palm oil have hit a new high, with a 49% increase for the physical uptake of RSPO CSPO and a 54% increase for GreenPalm Certificates, compared to Q12013.
According to the latest data, sales of Physical CSPO reported in the eTrace system through Identity Preserved (IP), Segregated (SG) and Mass Balance (MB) supply chains have increased to 506,586 Metric Tonnes (MT) in the first quarter ending March 31, 2014, compared with 340,668 MT in the same period last year.
Meanwhile, GreenPalm Certificates clocked in sales of 853,338 MT for the first quarter of the year, up 54% from 555,906 MT in the same period last year. GreenPalm trading during the month of March has also resulted in a record of total premiums back to RSPO certified growers of US$6.6m.
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