Nestlé Joins with TFT for Sustainable Palm Oil

VEVEY, Switzerland On the heels of a Greenpeace report claiming Nestlé is using palm oil from destroyed Indonesian rainforests and peatlands, the company announced it has entered into a partnership with The Forest Trust (TFT). TFT, a global non-profit organization, will help Nestlé to build responsible supply chains by identifying and addressing embedded social and environmental issues. Nestlé is the first global consumer goods company to become a TFT member.

According to a Nestlé press release, the partnership starts with palm oil, and Nestlé is studying its supply chains to determine a similarly ambitious target for the pulp and paper it uses. Together with TFT, Nestlé has defined the Responsible Sourcing Guidelines, a set of critical requirements to guide the Nestlé procurement process and to ensure compliance with the Nestlé Supplier Code. The partnership will focus on assessing suppliers performance with respect to these guidelines and on providing technical support to those who currently do not meet the requirements, but who are committed to achieving sustainability.

The company says it will focus on the systematic identification and exclusion of companies owning or managing high-risk plantations or farms linked to deforestation.

Nestlé has already set the goal that by 2015, 100% of the palm oil it uses will come from sustainable sources. The Company has made strong progress toward that goal; 18% of its palm oil purchases in 2010 come from sustainable sources, and this is expected to reach 50% by the end of 2011.

By setting critical requirements for its procurement process and checking compliance with its Supplier Code, Nestlé wants to ensure that its products have no deforestation footprint.