By In the past two weeks we have made history. We have seen the biggest climate rallies take place on the streets of over 150 countries. People are united by one truth: climate change is happening, it is affecting communities now and time is running out to take action to avoid the tipping point to dangerous climate change.
Momentum is building and people are united in efforts to take on the biggest polluters: commodity producers that are destroying the ecosystems that regulate our climate and the fossil fuel industry.
One year ago, RAN exposed the role that 20 of the world biggest snack food companies play in driving climate change through their use of Conflict Palm Oil. Since then half of these companies including Nestle, Unilever, Kellogg, Mars, Mondelez, Hershey’s, ConAgra Foods, Smuckers, Dunkin Brands and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts have adopted new commitments to cut the destruction of rainforests and carbon rich peatlands and social conflict from their supply chains; some companies including PepsiCo and Hormel Foods have taken initial but inadequate steps; and others including Kraft, Heinz, Campbell Soup, Nissin Foods and Toyo Suisan, are laggards that continue to bury their heads in the sand refusing to take action.
One thing is clear, time is running out for PepsiCo and the Snack Food 20 companies to cut Conflict Palm Oil from their products.
It’s time for companies to put new commitments into action. Deforestation rates in Indonesia, where a majority of palm oil is grown, are the highest ever and continue to rise. We simply can not allow palm oil companies to bulldoze the ecosystems that our societies survival depends upon. The Snack Food 20 companies must stop buying palm oil from the companies responsible for the carbon bombs released into the atmosphere when rainforests and peatlands are cleared to make way for new plantations.
The Snack Food 20 must step up and address their Conflict Palm Oil problem. They need to demonstrate that they have stopped the bulldozers in their supply chains and have eliminated suppliers who are unwilling to be part of the global just transition to a low carbon economy.
The sands are shifting but we need to keep up the pressure on the palm oil sector, PepsiCo and the Snack Food 20 until we see real change on the ground.
Image via Carlos Quiles
