The world’s biggest palm oil trader has committed to mapping and monitoring its entire supply base by the end of 2019, in a bid to end deforestation.
Wilmar, which supplies 40% of the world’s palm oil, has today published details of a new supplier monitoring and engagement programme to “step up the effectiveness” of its No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation (NDPE) policy.
The palm oil giant claimed it had already made “significant progress” towards achieving NDPE, but the “opaque ownership structures some companies have in place” were proving challenging. It had therefore decided to “step up efforts to map out our suppliers’ operations to ensure transparency and compliance”, it said.
Working with sustainability consultant Aidenvironment, Wilmar will map out all of its suppliers’ palm oil concessions by the end of next year, and use satellite technology to monitor them for compliance.
“The mapping database will enable us to monitor our suppliers’ land development activities, if any, using detailed forest cover and peatland baseline maps with high-resolution satellite imagery,” it said. “The maps will include key attributes such as group-level links, names of subsidiary companies, mill capacity, available landbanks as well as written or public commitment to the NDPE policy.”
Any suppliers found to be involved in deforestation or new development on peat will be suspended immediately, though the company said it would continue engaging with them to help bring them back into compliance.
“We remain steadfast in our commitment to our NDPE policy and this new enhanced plan is part of our sustainability strategy as we strive towards a supply chain free of deforestation and conflict,” said Jeremy Goon, chief sustainability officer of Wilmar.
“However, we must be mindful that our pursuit of sustainability goals does not inadvertently create a negative impact on the smallholders. As importantly, we must ensure that by raising the bar even higher, we do not contribute to a growing market of unsustainable palm oil, also known as the ‘leakage market’.
“Hence, we continue to place much importance on engagement so that we can continue to guide and assist our smallholders and suppliers towards compliance with our NDPE policy.”
Big impact
Wilmar’s latest commitments have been welcomed by environmental group Greenpeace, which stepped up its campaign against the palm oil giant in recent months. Activists occupied its refinery in Indonesia and twice boarded tanker ships carrying its palm oil, as well as targeting its major customer Mondelez.
“Today’s announcement is a potential breakthrough,” said Kiki Taufik, global head of Indonesian forests campaign, Greenpeace Southeast Asia. “If Wilmar keeps its word, by the end of 2019 it will be using satellites to monitor all of its palm oil suppliers, making it almost impossible for them to get away with forest destruction.”
Greenpeace said it would now pause its campaign to give Wilmar the chance to put its new plan into action, and called on other big palm oil traders to make similar commitments.
“Stopping deforestation requires industry-wide action,” said Taufik. “Other traders and brands must now follow with credible plans to map and monitor all of their suppliers.”
Mondelez said the commitment was an “important step” towards sector-wide change in the pam oil industry and acheving achieving a deforestation-free palm oil supply chain from 2020.
“We continue to believe that urgent action is needed across the entire palm oil supply chain to protect forests,” it said. “We’ve called for an acceleration of suppliers’ efforts in this space and welcome Wilmar International’s role in helping re-establish industry credibility on this topic.
“Specifically, we welcome the call to immediately suspend suppliers involved in deforestation and peatland development and recognize the commitment to improving transparency across the supply chain by stepping up efforts on group-wide concession mapping of upstream suppliers.
“We call on all direct suppliers in the industry to implement similar approaches to concession mapping and to collaborate with the providers of such services, like Global Forest Watch or AidEnvironment, so that we can move quicker to prevent deforestation across the entire palm oil sector, and not just within specific supply chains.”
The commitments were aligned to Mondelez International’s Palm Oil Action Plan, which it launched in 2014, the company said.
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