Victory for Responsible Palm Oil Plantations

A multi-year campaign from organizations like Greenpeace, Rainforest Action Network, and the Forest Trust has managed to arrest deforestation and human rights abuses from palm oil plantations. One of the last big company holdouts has finally agreed to purchase palm only exclusively from responsible sources. The Singapore based company known as Musim Mas made the announcement last week. This is significant because Musim Mas it is responsible for 18 percent of the world's palm oil.

In a press release Musim Mas announced its new sustainability policy, which, it said, “re-affirms its commitment to bring benefits to the community, respect the rights of smallholders to develop or conserve their land, while maintaining a strict guideline of No Deforestation, No Peatland Development and No Exploitation.”

Efforts in Support of Sustainable Palm Oil

Responsible sourcing of palm oil is a growing concern with consumers and by extension a growing number of corporations. Palm oil plantations are infamous for destroying both forests and peatlands. At the start of 2014 a survey of the state of responsible sourcing of palm oil showed just how bad things are. The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) analysis revealed that twenty-four of the 30 leading companies they surveyed do not source palm oil responsibly.

In a report titled Donuts, Deodorant and Deforestation: Scoring America’s Top Brands on their Palm Oil Commitments, USC looked at the 10 biggest companies in the packaged food, fast food and personal care industries and found that the vast majority have inadequate commitments or lack commitments altogether.

Campaign Succeeds in Pressuring P&G into Sourcing Sustainable Palm Oil

Procter and Gamble (P&G) has responded to public pressure and agreed to stop thier environmentally destructive palm oil sourcing practices. This is yet another story about how the dangers of irresponsible and unsustainable practices make a company vulnerable to public shaming campaigns that can prove very harmful to a firm's reputation. A total of 400,000 people emailed P&G to express their outrage at the company's harmful activities.

On April 8th, the Washington Post reported that P&G has agreed to purchase 100 percent of their palm oil products from sustainable sources by 2015 and 100 percent of their paper products from recycled or third-party certified sources by 2020. A P&G spokesman explained that the company is now committed to a new "No Deforestation policy" and it intends to provide full traceability for all the palm oil and derivatives it uses by the end of next year.

Video - The Slaughter of Orangutans for Palm Oil

This video chronicles the heartrending story of Orangutans who are being wiped out so that Procter & Gamble (P&G) can expand palm plantations in Indonesia. We cannot claim to be civilized let alone sustainable when we decimate the habitats of other species. It is unconscionable that we destroy the homes of orangutans, elephants and tigers among other species, just to grow palm trees used in shampoos and other household products. Even worse is the fact that orangutans are being murdered by workers in palm oil plantations.

Palm Oil's Environmental Impacts: Solutions to Deforestation and Methane Emissions

The palm oil industry is a major cause of deforestation, and new research indicates that palm oil processing is also a significant source of methane emissions. Despite these very serious issues there are solutions to both problems. Palm oil is a widely used edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp of the fruit of the oil palms.

The palm oil industry has earned a bad reputation for its destruction of forests and peatlands. Both of which contribute to climate change as the loss of forests and peatlands adversely impact biodiversity, generates carbon emissions and reduces global carbon sinks. Over the last few years years sustainability certification in the palm oil industry has been addressing some of these deforestation concerns.

The 2013 World's Most Ethical Companies (Ethisphere)

Every year, the Ethisphere Institute reveals its annual World’s Most Ethical (WME) companies list. The companies on the WME list "truly go beyond making statements about doing business "ethically" and translate those words into action." WME honorees not only promote ethical business standards and practices internally, they exceed legal compliance minimums and shape future industry standards by introducing best practices today. In 2013, a record 145 companies made the list, which includes more than three dozen industries, from aerospace to wind power, with 43 of the WME winners headquartered outside the US. Since the list's inception, 23 companies have made the list all six years including: Aflac, American Express, Fluor, General Electric, Milliken & Company, Patagonia, Rabobank and Starbucks, among others.

Here is the WME list for 2013:

2013 World's Most Admired Companies (Fortune Magazine)

Fortune Magazine's 2013 list of "World's Most Admired Companies," is an annual ranking of the world's most admired and respected companies.

Companies are assessed based on their performance in several key areas including innovation and social responsibility.

This annual ranking from Fortune is widely considered a definitive report card on corporate reputations. According to Fortune, these companies have shown a commitment to social responsibility and high ethical standards.

Here are the rankings of the top 50 companies as assessed by Fortune Magazine:

Visionary Women: The Profiles of Two Important Environmentalists

Angella Nazarian's new book, Pioneers of the Possible: Celebrating Visionary Women, includes profiles of two important environmentalists. Marina Silva, who ran for president of Brazil last year and is referred to as the Al Gore of Brazil. She's been working tirelessly to save the Amazon and was at the forefront of passing legislation for the environment. Illiterate and living in the Amazon jungle as a rubber tapper until age 16, she is also the winner of the prestigious Goldman prize.

Wangari Matthai of Kenya, the first environmentalist to win a Noble Prize. She founded the Green Belt Movement that has led to more than 13 million trees being planted in Africa. Her movement has spread to other African countries.

Environmental Sustainability Journey by Pfizer (Video)

Kingspan's Sustainability Journey (Video)

The Dow Sustainability Journey (Video)

PLANTERS Presents 'The Sustainability Journey: African Cashew Farmers' (Video)

Coca-Cola Sustainability Journey: Brian Kelley, Chief Product Supply Officer, Coca-Cola (Video)

Unilever Sustainability Journey: Go Big or Go Home

Unilever's efforts are extraordinary if for no other reason than the sheer scale of its sustainability ambitions. By 2020, the company, with annual revenues exceeding $63 billion, plans to cut its massive environmental footprint in half through its Sustainable Living Plan.

Bluehorse Associates Sustainability Journey: Doing It for the Money

Bluehorse is a pioneer in the sustainability metrics field and they understand how bottom line concerns are driving sustainability. They specialize in delivering ground-breaking tools that provide decision makers with clear, usable information for their business and products.

Berg Engineering Consultants Ltd. Sustainability Journey: Be Proactive

Green is also growing in the building sector. As reported in the Daily Herald Business Ledger, The green market was 2 percent of nonresidential construction starts in 2005; 12 percent in 2008; and grew to 28-35 percent in 2010. By 2015, an estimated 40-48 percent of new nonresidential construction will be green. Experts say green building will support 7.9 million U.S. jobs and pump $554 million into the U.S. economy over the next four years.

Aramark Sustainability Journey: Training a Workforce

Securing qualified employees is amongst Aramark's key sustainability initiatives. Aramark has launched an Environmental Internship Program designed to meet a growing need for employees who have a practical understanding of environmental initiatives plus fundamental business knowledge.

PPR Home's Sustainability Journey: Innovative Metrics Shed Light on Supply Chains

PPR Home is the parent company of some of the world's biggest luxury and sporting brands, including Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, and PUMA, are embarking on one of the world's most ambitious green accounting programs. PPR Home has announced that it will adopt a group environmental profit and loss statement (EP&L) by 2015.

United Natural Foods, Inc. Sustainability Journey (Video)

Auckland Airports ongoing sustainability journey (Video)