For the second time in 12 months, Deutsche Bank is about to violate its own Environmental and Social Policy Framework. By mid-2021, the bank is expected to transfer the second tranche of a 25m USD loan to Singapore-based rubber giant Halcyon Agri, knowingly overlooking its record of human rights violations, non-transparency, and some of the most devastating deforestation in … [Read more...]
Nordic consumer giant commits to No Deforestation
Nordic consumer goods giant, Orkla, which also owns Indian brand MTR Foods, today committed to remove forest destruction from the palm oil it uses in its products. “This policy covers one of the biggest palm oil buyers in the Nordic countries and is the first to cover a major brand originating in India. People power is driving enormous change in the industry. This means … [Read more...]
Cameroon palm oil project finally on ice
After years of controversy surrounding the proposed palm oil plantation in Cameroon, the Cameroonian government has ordered Herakles Farms to suspend all logging at its main worksite at Talangaye, in the Nguti region of the country. Greenpeace Africa is encouraged by this decision - there are numerous illegalities associated with the project, not to mention the social … [Read more...]
Pushing every button for sustainability
Imagine opening a newspaper and reading that across the world, fish stocks are recovering, that forests are growing back, that droughts and extreme weather events are declining, that carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are dropping, that oceanic dead zones are regenerating and that threatened species are bouncing back. That’s what John Elkington (pictured) describes when … [Read more...]
First to support sustainable palm oil
Woolworths has become the first South African company to become a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a global organisation which has developed a set of standards that address the legal, economic, environmental and social requirements of producing sustainable palm oil. Around the world, more palm oil is produced than any other vegetable oil. It's found … [Read more...]