John,

Doritos, Cheetos and Lays potato chips are still made with palm oil grown on stolen and bulldozed rainforest land, destroying the home of the yellow-tailed woolly monkey and hundreds of other endangered species in Peru.

Their maker PepsiCo promised to go completely deforestation-free by 2022, but one of its suppliers Ocho Sur is sourcing dirty palm oil, illegally grown on stolen, deforested land. The Peruvian Amazon is precious: It hosts 10% of the world’s known species, and Indigenous communities depend on it for their livelihoods.

But palm oil operations are massively growing in Latin America and so far, many suppliers are flying under the radar due to weak regulations. If we don’t call out brands like PepsiCo now, they will go unchecked and let the land grabs and deforestation continue – let’s show them we’re watching:

PepsiCo: Keep your promise – stop sourcing deforestation palm oil.

It is estimated that about 30% of Peru's palm plantations are on illegally deforested land – half of it is sent to international markets, where brands like PepsiCo buy their palm oil to make Doritos, Cheetos or Lays potato chips.

This specific rainforest in Ucayali, eastern Peru, is home to the Shipibo-Konibo people, who are claiming the territory deforested by Ocho Sur. It has the country’s second-highest rate of forest loss, destroying the communities’ livelihoods and threatening endemic species like the yellow-tailed woolly monkey. 

Palm oil from Latin America has not caught the attention of the public yet because the amount that’s being produced is far lower than Indonesia or Malaysia. But rogue suppliers like Ocho Sur are using this to blatantly steal and bulldoze rainforests – and according to Mongabay's latest investigation, PepsiCo has bought this dirty palm oil for at least the past three years!

If we don’t call major brands like PepsiCo now, they will use this to keep buying cheap, destructive palm oil while claiming to be 100% deforestation-free. Let’s show the snack giant that we are watching, and remind it of its commitments.

PepsiCo: Keep your promise – stop sourcing deforestation palm oil.

In 2020, together with partners, we pushed this major snack giant to source 100% deforestation-free palm oil by 2022. PepsiCo has made great progress, but we need to keep holding it accountable so it won’t backslide – so let’s come together as the Ekō community and do just that, together.