Greenpeace response to Unilever's GreenPalm announcement

PERSONAL NOTE: We have seen many companies claim to be buying these certificates as if this absolves them of all responsibility - it does not.
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Greenpeace response to Unilever's GreenPalm announcement

Greenpeace response to Unilever's announcement that it is using GreenPalm certificates for Europe, Australia, New Zealand business:

"Until there is an industry wide agreement by palm oil producers to stop destroying rainforest and peatland Greenpalm certificates will offer no guarantee of sustainability. Greenpalm certificates are only as good as the standards that underpin them. That's why Greenpeace is calling for a moratorium on all further rainforest and peatland clearance for palm oil in Indonesia," said Ian Duff, Greenpeace Forest Campaigner.


KEY CONCERNS ON GREENPALM --

Why Greenpeace does not see GreenPalm certificates as the solution to stopping the ongoing forests and peatland destruction caused by the palm oil industry --


. Greenpalm certificates are only as good as the standards that underpin
them - in this case the RSPO's, which are not only too weak but are
routinely ignored by suppliers including Sinar Mas.

. Greenpalm certificates give no guarantee on where the palm oil you are
using in your products is coming from. Consumer companies need to demand
from their suppliers full supply chain traceability: from the
plantation, through to the mills, to the production facility to know
that no palm oil from rainforest destruction is entering the supply
chain. That is the only way to exclude companies, like Sinar Mas, that
continue to trash rainforests.

. Moreover Greenpeace is concerned that consumer companies will just buy
Greenpalm certificates and call it a day. Like carbon offsetting,
Greenpalm certificates cannot replace substantive action by consumer
companies to reduce the impact of their operations. Instead companies
need to work directly with those palm oil producers that will publicly
commit to not producing palm oil in a way that threatens rainforests and
peatland.




--
Beth Herzfeld
Media relations specialist
Greenpeace International
Canonbury Villas, London N1 2PN
United Kingdom


Greenpeace International
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/


Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning organisation that acts to
change attitudes and behaviour, to protect and conserve the environment and
to promote peace.

It comprises 28 independent national/regional offices in over 40 countries
across Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and the Pacific, as well as a
co-ordinating body, Greenpeace International.