Greenpeace released their ‘Cutting Deforestation out of the Palm Oil Supply Chain’ report today, which is a scorecard focussing on 14 global consumer brands with No Deforestation commitments. Greenpeace stated their intention is to ‘understand the practical actions these brands are taking to implement’ these commitments, as well as the impact these actions are having on the ground in Indonesia, where so much raw material used in consumer products is grown. The report concludes there is still much work to be done before some of these brands can say their supply chain is free of all deforestation.

We are working with our many palm oil members to a similar goal – cutting deforestation and exploitation out of palm oil supply chains, wherever they are in the world. We support the Greenpeace stance that reliance on Green Palm certificates and RSPO certification exclusively are both signs of a company ‘failing to deliver’ on a No Deforestation commitment. Although many of our members do seek RSPO certification, our work with those members isn’t restricted to the RSPO criteria. We very much believe in going beyond certification. Several of the brands in the report are TFT members, including Ferrero and Nestle, who were judged to be making strong progress, Danone and Mars, who are making decent progress, and Johnson & Johnson and Colgate-Palmolive, who were highlighted as failing. TFT supports and applauds the pro-active efforts of those making progress and will work harder to help those whose progress is currently too slow. The complexity of the derivatives supply chain used by Colgate-Palmolive and Johnson & Johnson does make the task harder, but in no way impossible. We feel some progress had been made.

To go beyond traceability and truly drive further transformation to cut deforestation, we believe it is key to innovate with solutions in the field that create value for producers and smallholders. Also using the leverage of various supply chains, (rubber, soy, pulp and paper, etc), in synergy will allow for landscapes to be managed in a way that brings a balance between conservation and economic development. Finally, creating new ways to verify beyond certification commitments will be crucial for companies to mainstream No Deforestation in their supply chain.