By any measure, 2014 was a turning point in the international movement to reform the notoriously destructive palm oil industry. Many of the sector’s biggest players announced groundbreaking, globally responsible palm oil commitments and pledged to eliminate forest and peatland destruction, human rights abuses, forced and child labor and climate pollution from their palm oil supply chains. At the same time, major corporate laggards, which have so far failed to keep pace with their peers and raise their palm oil policies to the new global benchmark for responsible palm oil production, need to get moving.
The Snack Food 20 laggards who have failed to put adequate policies and procurement practices in place, and are almost certainly using Conflict Palm Oil, are Toyo Suisan Kaisha, Kraft Foods Group, Nissin Foods, Hillshire Brands Company, Grupo Bimbo, H.J. Heinz Company, Campbell Soup Company, Hormel, Unilever and PepsiCo.
We need to convince each of these laggards to adopt a time-bound and truly responsible global palm oil procurement policy, which requires fully traceable, legally produced palm oil, and eliminates sourcing from companies which are destroying rainforests or carbon-rich peatlands, stealing community lands or violating human and workers’ rights.
Send your message now: Tell the laggards that you won't have deforestation, extinction or slavery in your home.