Nestlé committed to traceable sustainable palm oil to ensure no-deforestation

Oct 30, 2012

Nestlé no deforestation commitment

In 2010, Nestlé committed that its products will not be associated with deforestation.
This is detailed in our Commitment on Deforestation and Forest Stewardship (pdf, 279 Kb), which covers all the raw materials we use to make our products and our packaging. We have also developed accompanying Guidelines on the Responsible Sourcing Guidelines (RSGs) (pdf, 680 Kb)

Nestlé Responsible Sourcing Guidelines for palm oil

Nestlé recognises that in order to achieve no deforestation we must work with all supply chain actors, from plantation owners, processors and suppliers all the way to the consumer. In 2009, we joined the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).
In 2010, we partnered with The Forest Trust (TFT) to establish Responsible Sourcing Guidelines for palm oil (RSGs) (pdf, 187 Kb).

Our guidelines ask our suppliers to source oil from plantations that:

  1. Are legally compliant
  2. Respect the Free Prior and Informed Consent of local and indigenous communities
  3. Respect High Conservation Values (HCVs)
  4. Protect peat lands
  5. Protect High Carbon Stock Forests
  6. Respect all other RSPO Principles & Criteria

By making explicit provisions on the protection of peat lands and high carbon stock forests, which provide valuable carbon storage, we go beyond RSPO requirements to give more emphasis to the issue of deforestation, which is a leading cause of the loss of biodiversity and CO2 emissions. So far we are the only major food company to have taken such a step.

Implementation of the Nestlé Responsible Sourcing Guidelines

To ensure the palm oil we source is not associated with deforestation, it is essential to know where it comes from. We therefore work proactively with our suppliers to build traceability and carry out field assessments against our RSGs.

RSPO certification is accepted as verification of compliance with the exception of the requirements on peatland and high carbon forest which must be independently verified. In addition, we accept traceable oil from smallholders and growers who are not yet compliant but who have an action plan and time line in place for meeting our RSGs.

We recognise that during an interim period until traceability becomes feasible for all supply chains, including for complex blends of palm based derivatives, GreenPalm certificates have a role to play in supporting producers of certified sustainable palm oil.

Progress

  • Since our work on traceability began in 2010 we have directly engaged with suppliers responsible for 90% of our palm oil volume.

  • By September 2012, 40% of our volume can be traced back at least to the mill in the country of origin.

  • By September 2012, about 13% of our volume is traceable RSPO certified oil.

  • By end 2012, we will achieve a total of 80% RSPO certified sustainable palm oil (including an estimated 67% in the form of GreenPalm certificates)

  • * In 2013, we have already achieved 100% sourcing of RSPO certified sustainable palm oil, two years ahead of our public commitment. For full details on our progress, see our Autumn 2013 Palm Oil Progress Report (pdf, 925 Kb).

Commitment to traceable sustainable palm oil

Our objective is to continuously increase the amount of palm oil that we can trace back to plantations that are independently assessed and verified against our RSGs. We have committed to reporting publicly every year on the progress we have achieved in sourcing traceable sustainable palm oil that doesn’t contribute to deforestation.

External recognition

In November 2013 we scored 11 out of 12 points in the World Wildlife Fund 2013 Palm Oil Buyers Scorecard (pdf, 2.93Mb).

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