Rainforest Action Network Responds to Nestlé’s Responsible Sourcing Core Requirements.
San Francisco –– Amidst an ongoing climate crisis fueled in part by commodity production, consumer goods giant Nestlé recently released a new sourcing policy that fails to adequately respond to the current drivers of deforestation in the forest regions it sources commodities from.
Daniel Carrillo, Forest Campaign Director for Rainforest Action Network (RAN) issued the following statement in response to Nestlé’s publication of its Responsible Sourcing Core Requirements.
“In 2010, Nestlé set the global benchmark for ‘No Deforestation’ commitments but over a decade later it has issued a new policy that doesn’t go far enough. Nestlé has shifted from being a leader on forest policy to lagging behind its peers.
“Nestlé is failing to hold its suppliers accountable for the harm caused across their operations. The fact that Nestlé refuses to strengthen the scope of its policy is troublesome because there is a growing trend of its suppliers being linked to deforestation.
“Nestlé’s new policy fails to set a deadline for ending forest destruction and human rights violations across its supply chains. It also lacks a commitment to rigorously and independently verify the claims that the company continues to make that its supply chains are responsible and deforestation-free.
“Nestlé has weakened its definition of ‘zero deforestation’ and introduced new exemptions to its deforestation requirements for smallholders that may have unintended consequences, as deforestation for palm oil is increasingly driven by land speculators operating under the guise of ‘smallholder farmers”.
“Nestlé has strengthened its requirements on respecting the rights of Indigenous communities to give or withhold their Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) to agricultural development, remediating harm when the rights to FPIC have not been respected and includes more comprehensive human rights due diligence requirements.
“Even the strongest corporate commitments are still just words on paper. The real test is how a company carries out its promise. Now is the time for Nestlé to put this commitment into action by breaking its ties with forestry and agribusiness giant Royal Golden Eagle––a supplier that continues to drive deforestation and the violation of customary rights in Indonesia.”
Nestlé scored a D grade in Rainforest Action Network’s Keep Forest Standing scorecard. A full assessment of its policies and actions to end deforestation and human rights is available at https://www.ran.org/kfs-scorecard/.