Malaysian palm oil giant IOI sues RSPO

IOI, one of the world’s leading palm oil producers, is suing the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil after the organisation suspended the company’s certification last month.

Dato’ Lee Yeow Chor, CEO at IOI, said the suspension had “caused significant disruption” to its business in Europe and America, with leading palm oil buyers including Hershey’s, Unilever, Kellogg’s, Nestle and Mars moving quickly to cancel their contracts with IOI.

IOI, one of the RSPO’s founding members, was suspended after complaints were made against four of its subsidiaries by Dutch sustainability consultancy Aid environment alleging deforestation in IOI concessions in West Kalimantan.

Dato Lee said “We feel that we have been unfairly affected by the extent and scope of the suspension decision.” Greenpeace accused the company of bullying tactics.

IOI was suspended over complaints about deforestation
 

Sustainable brands driving growth at Unilever

Five years on since the launch of Unilever’s social and environmental responsibility programme, the Sustainable Living Plan, the brands are delivering faster growth than the rest of its business.

Unilever’s Sustainable Living brands, which include Knorr, Dove, Lipton and Hellmann’s, grew 30% quicker than the rest of its businesses, and delivered nearly half of Unilever’s annual growth.

“Business can play a leadership role in disrupting markets in support of sustainable living – and they will be rewarded by consumers who are also seeking responsibility and meaning as well as high quality products at the right price. There is no trade-off between business and sustainability. It is creating real value for Unilever,” says Unilever CEO Paul Polman.

Exxon Mobil challenges government probe on climate change

Exxon Mobil is firing back at a government investigation into whether the oil company conspired to cover up its understanding of climate change.

Following a subpoena issued in March by the attorney general of the US Virgin Islands, the American oil giant has gone to court to challenge what it says is an unwarranted fishing expedition into internal records, violating its constitutional rights.

Exxon is seeking to block the subpoena, which it believes was issued “without the reasonable suspicion required by law, and based on an ulterior motive to silence those who express views on climate change with which they disagree”.

Apple boasts business world’s strongest climate policy

Apple has the strongest climate policy in the business world, a study by London-based NGO InfluenceMap has found.

The tech giant has become the first corporation to achieve the top score of A+ in InfluenceMap’s scoring system, putting it at the top of its ranking of around 150 multinationals in their championing of climate change legislation.

The report, which analyses how companies directly or indirectly support or undermine climate legislation, found that the California-based tech giant's pledges on the use of renewable energy are backed up by its calls to policy makers to push through ambitious climate change policy and legislation.

Lisa Jackson, Apple’s VP of environmental initiatives
 

Nike joins circular economy

Sporting goods giant Nike has become a global partner of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the organisation that is working with business, government and academia to build a circular economy.

The announcement came as Nike unveiled its 2014-15 sustainable business report, which showed a decrease in per-unit carbon emissions of 19% since 2008. The company, which commits to reach 100% renewable energy by the end of 2025, also aims to eliminate footwear manufacturing waste to landfill or incineration by 2020.

Hannah Jones, Nike’s chief sustainability officer, said: “As part of our growth strategy, we have set a vision for a low-carbon, closed-loop future, and we fundamentally believe the transition from linear to circular business models will accelerate our ability to create the future of performance products for the athlete.” 

Other global partners of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation are Cisco, Google, H&M, Kingfisher, Philips, Intesa Sanpaolo, Renault and Unilever.

Nike pledges to run in circles

 

Palm Oil  sustainability  ioi  Greenpeace  climate change  NGO  policy 

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