Company Says No to Felling Trees for Sourcing Palm Oil

March 24:

Norwegian company Orkla, which owns a stake in city-based MTR Foods, announced on Saturday that it would stop using palm oil produced by destroying forests. The move comes at a time when environmental group Greenpeace has been urging several major companies to take the same step.

Orkla’s new policy will include traceability of the procured palm oil up to the plantation level. These checks will be in place by 2015 and the company has also committed to stop purchase of palm oil acquired by destroying forests or peatland from 2017 onwards.

Avimuktesh Bharadwaj, a Greenpeace campaigner, praised the move and said, “The policy covers one of the biggest palm oil buyers in the Nordic countries. It is also the first to cover a major brand originating from India. There is now no place to hide for major companies like P&G and also Indian brands like Godrej.”

Greenpeace has been campaigning for an end to massive deforestation being undertaken in Indonesia for sourcing palm oil.

Orkla acquired a majority stake in MTR Foods in 2007. Other companies like Nestle, Unilever, Mars and Ferrero have already committed to responsible sourcing of palm oil. India is the world’s biggest buyer of palm oil and shipments rose by 4.4 per cent in December from 2012, according to Bloomberg.

Source: http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/bangalore/Company-Says-No-to-Felling-Trees-for-Sourcing-Palm-Oil/2014/03/24/article2127309.ece?#.Uy-mV_l5MrU