Whole Foods Comes Out With Palm Oil Statement!
We are happy to announce that Whole Foods Market has become a voice for change in the palm oil industry and has written a statement in alignment with RAN’s Pledge to Protect Rainforests, Family Farmers and our Climate.
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The Whole Foods Market statement on palm oil:
Whole Foods Market is concerned with the social and environmental impacts of palm oil production in tropical rainforest ecosystems around the world. Whole Foods is committed to protecting rainforests, communities and our global climate, and therefore Whole Foods has partnered with the Institute for Marketecology (IMO), a highly regarded international certification agency whose social responsibility and fair trade certification program requires successful implementation of environmental, social responsibility, and sustainability practices on the land and within the company’s organization.
Whole Foods Market pledges to use IMO’s reliable certification program, along with independent supply chain verification, in the sourcing of palm oil in our private label products. Whole Foods Market pledges to support the development of more sources of sustainable, fairly traded palm oil, to ensure that palm oil in our private label brand products are not sourced from the conversion of rainforest ecosystems or from companies engaged in the conversion of natural forests and/or peatlands; respect the free, prior and informed consent of interested communities and meet or exceed RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil) principles and criteria.
Whole Foods Market pledges that it will only use sources of palm oil independently verified and certified to these criteria in our private label brand products by 2012. Whole Foods Market calls on our peers in the food industry to join with us in this pledge.
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Whole Foods Market is ready to move forward as a company that wants to do the right thing by oil palm. It is committed to working with RAN in partnership toward creative solutions, and has agreed to investigate its supply chain, writing personal letters to each of its suppliers. With this statement, Whole Foods Market is joining the growing group of businesses sending a clear marketplace signal that they want to see these issues addressed and that companies do not want to be associated with the environmentally destructive and socially devastating practices associated with the expansion of oil palm plantations.
Here’s to taking a stand for the protection of rainforests and for the indigenous and forest-based communities impacted by palm oil expansion.
11 Responses to “Whole Foods Comes Out With Palm Oil Statement!”
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February 26th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
This a step in the right direction; thank you Whole Foods. They understand from where their bottom line eminates: the growing portion of citizens who understand they are being poisoned exacerbated by eco-degradation.
February 26th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
FANTASTIC! the Australian Orangutan Project that l belong to have lobbied both this current Govt. and previous one to have labelling in our rupermarkets only to have it knocked back as it isnt important. Maybe the winds of change will soon hit here before its to late. l am so happy for you all.
February 26th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
Read labels to be aware of products containing palm oil. Avoid those that do not use sustainably grown palm oil.
February 26th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
Also to my previous comment the cost of palmoil is taking the lives of at least 50-55 Orangutans a week, along with the Sumartran tiger lndonesian elephant and countless other wildlife. Also these peat swamps absorb tons of carbon per week and by the draining and burning is releasing it all back into the atmosphere thus rapidly contributting to Global Warming at an alarming rate. Govts must take action and pull lndonesia
February 26th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
Thank you Whole Foods. I was worried I would have to find a new place to shop! Thank you for doing the “right” thing……
February 26th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
Thank you for your continued commitment to socially responsible leadership.
February 27th, 2009 at 6:15 am
Now why don’t they do something about their use of industrial soy products in so many products. Just as much rain forest is destroyed in South America to grow soybeans as palm oil.
February 27th, 2009 at 11:01 am
Thank you Whole Foods for setting an example and standing up for human rights and raiforests!
March 1st, 2009 at 4:13 pm
This news should be on the main pages of our newspapers and on the evening news in order to shame the other grocery stores into compliance with saving the rain forests and our planet.
March 3rd, 2009 at 4:01 am
Some Reflections
Now, it is easy for the EU, the Wall Street Journal and the author to take pot shots at Malaysia and Indonesia for attempting to lift themselves up economically by cultivating palm oil for biofuels. In fact, the Malaysian Palm Oil Council issued a rebuttal to some topics reviewed in this story. And although some of it is ridiculous, it does point out obviously hypocritical things like this —
Britain has little forest left, as most land has been converted to agriculture. Such a paucity of forest cover and the preponderance of agricultural land have resulted in reduced biodiversity and caused the loss of fauna and flora.
According to data from the Food and Agriculture Organisation, Britain has less than 12 per cent of its land under forest cover compared with 64 per cent for Malaysia. Agricultural land makes up 71 per cent of its total land area compared with less than 19 per cent in Malaysia, of which oil palm accounts for two-thirds.
In the 19th century, Europeans were despoiling southeast Asia for the rubber and timber trades. From the WSJ, peaking of Borneo —
In the 1800s, Dutch and British traders began carving up parts of the island to produce rubber and other commodities. Later, Malaysian and Indonesian timber barons devastated millions of hectares of forest logging tropical hardwoods. Today, only a little more than half of Borneo’s once-ubiquitous rain-forest cover remains, according to WWF, the global conservation organization.
As a citizen of the United States — the world’s largest natural resource consumer driving much of the planet’s freefall — and largest abuser of the global commons, which is the environment upon which we all ultimately depend, I must add this apologetic to my criticisms of land use practices in southeast Asia. After all, people are just trying to feed themselves, raise their families and prosper economically as far as that is possible. Quoting the WSJ concerning Indonesia, “the arrival of new palm-oil plantations has meant jobs and opportunities for many Dayak families [of Kalimantan], and some have even taken ownership stakes in the operations.” There are environmentalists in southeast Asia just as there are here among the NGOs in America — I have quoted some of them. At the same time, John Q. Suburban in the United States is just trying to feed himself, raise his family and prosper economically as far as that is possible.
So, in the short run, some will win, some will lose and everyone wants to live. Over the longer term, however, the underlying problem is too many people (wherever they live) consuming too much energy and other natural resources. Overshoot and unsustainable modes of living are not confined to southeast Asia, as any American should know.
Dave Cohen
Senior Contributor
The Oil Drum
davec @ linkvoyager.com
August 31st, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Could you verify something for me please. Your pledge mentions using IMO certs for sustainable palm oil, yet within IMO’s files with regards to sustainable palm oil, there is only the mention of the plantation in Ghana for Dr Bronners.
Daabon also hints at having been a supplier for WFM products and there is no mention in your pledge of any presence of Colombian palm oil