Green pledges from companies such as Starbucks and H&M show that consumer pressure does have an impact on corporate behavior. In another win for consumer activists this week, Kellogg’s is responding to an online petition started by two sisters a year ago and taking a stand against unsustainable palm oil.
The company, one of the world’s largest cereal and snack producers, is pledging to source all its palm oil directly from sustainably certified estates and plantations. Kellogg’s is also a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) but has faced criticism for sourcing palm oil unethically from operations that damage the environment.
Palm oil is shockingly common in many food and beauty products, and its production often involves clear-cutting the rain forest and exacerbating climate change by destroying crucial natural carbon stores.
The petition, started by Asha and Jia Kirkpatrick, aged 10 and 12, has since collected more than 785,000 signatures. Their work inspired the company’s pledge to clean up its act and even motivated them to hire an independent auditor, Pro Forest, to monitor its operations. It will also require all of the firm’s suppliers to agree to the No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation (NDPE) framework which tracks zero-deforestation commitments.
While large-scale industry reform is needed to propagate significant change in palm oil practices, individual business contributions to mitigating climate change and habitat destruction send a powerful message to the industry about the value of corporate ethics. This pledge from Kellogg’s demonstrates what can be achieved when consumers hold companies accountable for their practices.
