Stop Deforestation for Palm Oil in Everyday Products
Palm Oil is currently used in thousands of products we use every day, from baked goods to cleaning products to shampoo. Unfortunately, tropical forests are being cleared at an alarming rate to make room for new palm oil plantations.
This deforestation causes about 15 percent of global warming emissions worldwide! To make matters worse, more than half of all plant and animal species in the world live in those forests. With every acre cleared, they get closer to extinction.
We can grow palm oil without destroying tropical forests. Palm oil can grow on degraded land instead of forested land and existing plantations can increase crop yields to avoid the need to further expand into forests.
Urge the CEOs of Coca-Cola, Wal-Mart, Procter & Gamble and Kraft Foods to ensure all the products made or sold by member companies globally are deforestation-free.
Dear CEOs,
I applaud your recent announcement of a joint initiative with the U.S. government to reduce tropical deforestation resulting from the production of commodities like palm oil. As a board member of the Consumer Goods Forum, I'm counting on you to lead the global market to deforestation-free supply chains and products.
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The Consumer Goods Forum needs to make a strong and fast commitment to ensuring that all the products made or sold by member companies globally are deforestation-free. Additionally, I encourage you to demand that products be truly deforestation-free rather than falling back on faulty palm oil certifications that are not guaranteed to be 100 percent sustainable. With tropical forests disappearing at an alarming rate, we don't have any time to waste.
I'm counting on your leadership in the Consumer Goods Forum to drive the global market towards truly deforestation-free products--saving tropical forests, the animals that live there, and reducing global warming emissions.
