NGOs backed by 200,000 people deliver an ash mural made from forest fires caused by corporate giants at a greenwashing event they’re holding during Climate Week NYC.
NEW YORK, NY — On September 22, the Rainforest Action Network, Friends of the Earth U.S. and SumOfUs held a rally outside Colgate-Palmolive offices in NYC, where the Consumer Goods Forum’s Forest Positive Coalition held a greenwashing corporate event during Climate Week NYC.
Together with supporters and local environmental and human rights activists, they delivered a mural made from burned forest ash – a symbol for the catastrophic forest fires that are a result of the deforestation and the climate crisis these companies are responsible for. They also delivered more than 200,000 signatures urging the self-styled corporate environmental coalition to meet its commitments to end deforestation and related human rights violations in its supply chains.
The Consumers Good Forum, a coalition of many of the world’s biggest consumer brands such as Mondelēz (Oreo, Wheat Thins) and Procter & Gamble (Tide, Head & Shoulders), are greenwashing themselves as environmental champions while they continue to drive rampant deforestation, human rights abuses, and climate chaos. From grievances involving land grabs as well as violence toward Indigenous land and human rights defenders to recent and mounting evidence of continued deforestation in their supply chains, these businesses and the executives that run them are profiteering off chaos and destruction.
Earlier this week, over 50 international civil society organizations released an open letter to the CEOs of leading consumer goods companies – including several CGF Forest Positive coalition members, such as Procter & Gamble, Mondelēz, and Unilever – demanding they cut business ties with palm oil supplier Astra Agro Lestari, resolve conflicts with local communities, and redress grievances. AAL is Indonesia’s second largest palm oil company and is implicated in human rights violations, land grabbing, and violence against local farmers and land defenders in Indonesia.
Delivering petition signatures from more than 200,000 people from around the world, Rainforest Action Network, Friends of the Earth and SumOfUs are calling the Consumer Goods Forum to meet its climate commitments as well as to stop land grabbing and deforestation of Indigenous land.
“Too many of the brands that make up the Consumer Goods Forum are falling short on their commitment to protect primeval forests, Indigenous Rights, and our climate. If you want to be a sustainability leader, you need to act like one and cut ties with any problematic producer of forest risk commodities such as palm oil and soy, from the very top to the very bottom of your supply chain.” Rosa Vollmer, Senior Campaigner at SumOfUs
“After failed commitments to end deforestation in supply chains by 2020, and recent declarations for a “Forest Positive” future, our investigators have damning new evidence that CGF members like P&G, Mondelez and today’s host Colgate Palmolive are sourcing illegal palm oil that destroyed carbon-rich peat forests in the Leuser Ecosystem. Deforestation is on the rise, not falling, in the federally protected Rawa Singkil Wildlife Reserve. More action is needed to stop the carbon bombs in your supply chains. Even with frontline communities calling on members for remedy, even with fresh evidence of forest destruction and rights violations, these companies refuse to stop doing business with dirty suppliers.” Maggie Martin, Senior Forest Campaigner at Rainforest Action Network
“As the world faces unprecedented human and ecological catastrophe, members of the Consumer Goods Forum are selling us junk food whose unlisted ingredients are forest destruction, land grabbing and violations of Indigenous Peoples’ rights. Many of these companies are trying to do better, or are spending a lot of PR dollars to make it appear that way – but the hour is way too late, and the crisis way too big, for congratulatory corporate greenwashing. The road to climate justice is built on bold action, not on half-measures and broken promises.” Jeff Conant, Senior International Forest program Manager, Friends of the Earth US
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SumOfUs is a global movement of consumers, investors, and workers all around the world, united together to hold corporations accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable and just path for our global economy.
Rainforest Action Network preserves forests, protects the climate and upholds human rights by challenging corporate power and systemic injustice through frontline partnerships and strategic campaigns.
Friends of the Earth fights to create a more healthy and just world. Our current campaigns focus on promoting clean energy and solutions to climate change, ensuring the food we eat and products we use are safe and sustainable, and protecting marine ecosystems and the people who live and work near them.
