John,
Oreo maker Mondelēz claims it’s “made snacking right” using only sustainable palm oil. But this is just a marketing smokescreen trying to cover up a supply chain so complicated and opaque, it’s darker than an Oreo! Meanwhile, the candy giant dreams of being a sustainability champion and together, we can make this dream come true.
Mondelēz has already cut ties with many big, bad palm oil producers – but there are too many small palm oil companies that still burn and bulldoze rainforests illegally and are tied into the supply chains. Even one drop of the bad stuff mixed in your cookies means they are not what they’re trying to be: 100% sustainable (and Mondelēz knows that).
The good news is that as an industry leader, it’s already keen to be a champion. All it needs is a big public push from a community like ours – and it gets better: if a leading snack food company like Mondelēz goes full-disclosure on palm oil and all other commodities, many of its peers will follow. We’d be SO close to snacks and candies free from rainforest destruction!
We are consumers, shareholders, workers and investors, what we tell a company like Mondelēz weighs heavily in the balance.
Tell Mondelēz: Make your snacking truly right
Palm oil deforestation in Indonesia has fallen over the past years. But a price surge and the increasing number of exporters with lower standards are still putting forests and those who call them home at risk: stealing land from indigenous communities, destroying endangered wildlife habitat, and exploiting plantation workers.
Mondelēz has come a long way when it comes to sustainable palm oil and other forest-risk commodities such as cocoa and soy: It’s cleaned up its supply chains from a lot of the bad producers that source from plantations grown by exploited workers on bulldozed rainforest and stolen land.
But these commodities can have complicated, multi-layered supply chains. Mondelēz committing to publish a so-called “forest-footprint report” would truly help untangle that mess: it means full transparency down to the last piece of the supply chain, and if anything gets sketchy, the company knows it and is held accountable to making things right.
Our global community has moved industry leaders like PepsiCo before – and a commitment from Mondelēz would send huge ripple effects through the snack food industry. Let’s ramp up the pressure on Mondelēz to become the sustainability hero it’s trying to be and call for no more secrets and true sustainability.
Tell Mondelēz: No more secrets – go full-disclosure on your palm oil!
Campaigning on palm oil and forest-risk commodities is a marathon – and we’re so close to our goal of transforming the entire industry. Our community has shown so many times how people power can be the crucial puzzle piece that can hold irresponsible, profit-hungry companies accountable and put people and the planet first. Let’s do this again, together.
