"Einige Klimaklagen haben spektakuläre Erfolge erzielt." Der Spiegel

Ist das vielleicht der bessere Weg zur Klimaneutralität?

https://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/klimawandel-wie-aktivisten-strengere-klimaziele-vor-gericht-erstreiten-a-9a7826cb-5b73-48e8-8ce4-74d26ae71d31?sara_ref=re-so-app-sh

https://archive.ph/uvZbz

#KlimaKlage #ErdErhitzung #KlimaKatastrophe #Unwetter #Extremwetter #Greenwashing
#FightGreenwashing #MeeresSpiegel

#Greenwashing Tactic 5. Irrelevance and Deflection: A greenwashing tactic that shifts conversation away from criticising "sustainable' #palmoil towards an irrelevant topics #Boycott4Wildlife #Boycottpalmoil #Fightgreenwashing

http://palmoildetectives.com/2021/09/02/greenwashing-tactic-5-irrelevance-and-deflection/

#Greenwashing Tactic 10: #Gaslighting #harassment and threats are used to attempt to discredit critics of an industry, certification scheme or commodity. #Boycottpalmoil #FightGreenwashing

http://palmoildetectives.com/2021/10/27/greenwashing-tactic-10-gaslighting-harassment/

Greenwashing Tactic 10: Gaslighting, Harassment, Stalking and Threats

Greenwashing’s most insidious and darkest form is the attempt to discredit, humiliate, harass, abuse and stalk individuals in order to silence individuals and stop them from sharing research and reports with others about corporate corruption, greenwashing and ecocide.

#Greenwashing Tactic 10: #Gaslighting #harassment and threats are used to attempt to discredit critics of an industry, certification scheme or commodity. #Boycottpalmoil #FightGreenwashing @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/10/27/greenwashing-tactic-10-gaslighting-harassment/

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Targets of Abuse

Abusive, Gaslighting and Greenwashing Pro Palm Oil Lobbyists on Twitter

Greenwashing by Gaslighting

Examples of Gaslighting

Greenwashing by Discrediting Critics

Who are the Pro Palm Oil Lobbyists?

Bart W Van Assen – Lead Auditor Trainer for the RSPO

Fraudulent Auditing of RSPO members

Stalking and harassment

Michelle Desilets

Jane Griffiths

Example: Greenwashing with lies, abuse, discrediting whistleblowers

Explore the Series

Further Reading: Greenwashing & Deceptive Marketing

Say thanks for this guide by donating to my Ko-Fi

Targets of Greenwashing by Gaslighting, Abuse, Stalking and Harassment

Targets of this kind of greenwashing could be researchers, conservationists, activists, investigative journalists, whistle-blowers, concerned consumers or brands (both big and small) who have taken a stand against palm oil and refuse to use it in their products.

Anybody who delves too deeply into the inconsistencies, misinformation and corruption in the palm oil industry is a target for this.

This form of greenwashing is not isolated to the palm oil lobby, many other industries apply these dark tactics to cool down criticism online about the environmental damage and ecocide caused by fossil fuels, meat, dairy, timber and extractive open-cut mining.

Targets for this form of greenwashing:

• Dr Roberto Gatti
• Aurora Sustainability Group
• Dr Setia Budhi
• Craig Jones
• Isabella Guerrini de Clare
• Neue Zurcher Zeitung
• Iceland Foods
• Dr Klaus Riede
• Dr Birute Galdikas – the most respected orangutan researcher in the world, who has 50 years of her life in the field helping orangutans.
• Russell Moxham
• Paul Fraser of Meridian Foods
• and me.

Harassment and abuse has the ability to intimidate and scare some individuals into silence and stop them participating in online conversations or from asking too many questions.

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Abusive, gaslighting and greenwashing Pro Palm Oil Lobbyists on Twitter:

It is recommend to block all of these people to make your Twitter experience more enjoyable with less palm oil greenwashing, abuse, harassment and hate in your life

Bart Van Assen is the most vile and abusive troll of all. He has harassed me and stalked me in two successive workplaces and has been banned several times from Mastadon and Twitter for harassment and abuse. You can also find him doing the same to other people on Instagram

https://twitter.com/PalmOilDetect/status/1627875314792792064?s=20

Main lobbyists/trolls

Bart W Van Assen: (who juggles multiple accounts to disguise himself: @Apes4Forests and @eachtreematters and @vliegerholland.

Michelle Desilets: @Orangutans and @Orangulandtrust

Jane Griffiths: @griffjane and @newquaySSPO

Lone Droscher Nielson: orangutanland (appears to be a dummy account being run by Michelle Desilets).

Other trolls and fake sock puppet accounts

Anak Sawit: @AnakSawitOrg

Anti genocide: @wakyIIsr

BuleMewak: @Bulemewak

Dupito Simamora: @SimamoraDupito

Earthkeeper22: @Earthkeeper22 parrots the exact same messages as Orangutan Land Trust despite being shown loads of evidence that it is a lie.

Francisca: @sisca_gd

FMN Global: @FMNglobal

Kevin Butler: @kiwibutts

Hypocrite Buster: @hypocrisykiller

Joern Haese: @JoernHaese (pro-Russia troll, apologist for the palm oil industry)

Li May Fun: @LiMayFun

Like I Care: @lik3icar3

Maruli Gultom: @Maruligultom

Najis Keji: @najiskeji

No_Gaslighting: @Ngaslighting

Pax Deorum: @PaxDeorum2 (abusive troll pushing a pro-Russia agenda)

Penny McGregor: @penmcgregor (Disgusting abusive troll who is an apologist for the immensely destructive HS2 project in the UK)

Petani Sawit: @PalmSawit

Peter Ashford: @kaffiene_nz (abusive troll pushing a pro New Zealand dairy/pro palm oil agenda)

ProEqual: @PR03QUAL

Rainforest: @Rainfor60967488

Ray Whitley: @RayWhitley13 (Fake vegan/lobbyist who does not advocate for animals on Twitter but instead simply foments divisiveness and hate on Twitter)

Robert Hii: @HiiRobert

Shite Buster: @Justice4Abo

Via Vallen: @ViaVallenia

Viki: @ImaWereViki

Greenwashing by Gaslighting

Gaslighting is a powerful tool for greenwashing and psychological manipulation. The gaslighter sows seeds of doubt in online conversations from questioning and doubtful researchers and consumers.

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A gaslighter will tell individuals that they are wrong and misinformed about the corruption, deforestation, human rights abuses of brands and certification schemes.

That they know far less about an issue than so-called ‘experts’. However, on closer examination, these ‘experts’ are a series of researchers, Zoos or conservation NGOs that are paid by the industry. They produce positive research or ambiguous and inconclusive research that supports their spurious claims of green sustainability.

Examples of gaslighting

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https://twitter.com/forests4apes/status/1516721955537563648?s=20&t=I9KRnKNOX8wAjpK4d_7n4w

https://twitter.com/palmoiltruther/status/1452516475562909696?s=20

https://twitter.com/Orangutanland/status/1427001793842712578?s=20

https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1447298891267940353?s=20

https://twitter.com/orangutans/status/1437728818429669380?s=20

https://twitter.com/helloamygarner/status/1455267346298327043?s=20

https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1451148455435513861?s=20

https://twitter.com/griffjane/status/1256461066512535552?s=20

https://twitter.com/orangutans/status/1445340326290501633?s=20

https://twitter.com/orangutans/status/1201893538109251585?s=20

https://twitter.com/orangutans/status/1452591696789843975?s=20

https://twitter.com/orangutans/status/1429740350739034112?s=20

https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1355867421429682178?s=20

https://twitter.com/orangutans/status/1351487010758926338?s=20

https://twitter.com/orangutans/status/1265598470368395266?s=20

https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1259899273304510471?s=20

https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1464597794279276547?s=20

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Greenwashing by Discrediting Critics

Discrediting people (especially researchers) who produce evidence of corruption, deforestation, and human rights abuses associated with so-called ‘sustainable’ palm oil.

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Targets of this form of harassment: researchers, whistleblowers, journalists, activists. Any person (particularly a public figure) who takes a clear and strong stance palm oil, who calls out the corruption of the RSPO and advocates for a palm oil boycott will receive online abuse.

Below: Serial online abuser and greenwasher Michelle Desilets of Orangutan Land Trust cuts and pastes the same response underneath of all tweets calling for a palm oil boycott to attempt to discredit the #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife movement.

Other targets of greenwashing by discrediting on social media:

• Dr Roberto Gatti: Lead author of peer-reviewed research showing that “sustainable” palm oil is not sustainable.
• Aurora Sustainability Group: A group of researchers who produced peer-reviewed research showing that “sustainable” palm oil is not sustainable.
• Dr Setia Budhi: Dayak ethnographer who refuses to be cowed or silenced about the immense corruption and indigenous landgrabbing associated with “sustainable” RSPO plantations in Borneo. Read interview and update.
• Craig Jones: Independent photographer who visited an RSPO “sustainable” palm oil plantation in Sumatra (PT Sisirau) and witnessed a mother and baby being rescued from a location of total ecocide – an area illegally destroyed for palm oil – yet “sustainable”. Read this story and the report about the biodiversity of PT Sisirau.
• Isabella Guerrini de Clare: Author of peer-reviewed research showing that “sustainable” palm oil is not sustainable.
• Neue Zurcher Zeitung: Media outlet in Germany that published OSINT satellite data showing incontrovertible and clear evidence of destruction of protected rainforests and within RSPO palm oil plantations.
• Dr Klaus Riede
• Dr Birute Galdikas – the most respected orangutan researcher in the world, who has spent 50 years of her life in the field helping orangutans. She has for decades been a vocal critic against the palm oil industry. One of the few researchers who is brave enough to stand up to large corporations and the RSPO.
• Paul Fraser of Meridian Foods
• and me.

Evidence produced from dozens of different sources over two decades shows the RSPO to be a greenwashing lie that has been a complete failure across all of its own sustainability standards.

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Examples of this form of harassment

https://twitter.com/palmoiltruther/status/1420376020163596295?s=20

https://twitter.com/orangutans/status/1326100964739330048?s=20

https://twitter.com/AuroraGroupScot/status/1229084035294679040?s=20

https://twitter.com/orangutans/status/1451942650190389251?s=20

https://twitter.com/palmoiltruther/status/1429675933112229889?s=20

https://twitter.com/robertocgatti/status/1408534574167212040

https://twitter.com/orangutans/status/1435918896171823106?s=20

https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1171018728844038144?s=20

https://twitter.com/orangutans/status/1411683864636964867?s=20

https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1455645702827225095?s=20

https://twitter.com/RussellMoxham/status/1506851368635703299?s=20&t=96QT7nNMogNmg6VPgOQzUA

https://twitter.com/robertocgatti/status/1293327656642060288?s=20

https://twitter.com/HypocrisyKiller/status/1322862981399547906?s=20

https://twitter.com/IsabellaGuerrin/status/1322692968667598850?s=20

https://twitter.com/palmoiltruther/status/1448164848869675014?s=20

https://twitter.com/palmoiltruther/status/1429707730223259649?s=20

https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1257282606120546304?s=20

https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1445673880069099527?s=20

https://twitter.com/palmoiltruther/status/1429159618668687362?s=20

https://twitter.com/IsabellaGuerrin/status/1323405820638482434?s=20

https://twitter.com/palmoiltruther/status/1455070854186995715?s=20

https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1455651945306263553?s=20

https://twitter.com/robertocgatti/status/1293553785340649478?s=20

https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1176787367841161216?s=20

https://twitter.com/palmoiltruther/status/1428809813983522819?s=20

https://twitter.com/DrBirute/status/1053460847085801472?s=20

https://twitter.com/AuroraGroupScot/status/1229021993510539265?s=20

https://twitter.com/CraigJones17/status/1437725673754345476?s=20

https://twitter.com/palmoiltruther/status/1421179284140425218?s=20

https://twitter.com/palmoiltruther/status/1455413095011008512?s=20

https://twitter.com/palmoiltruther/status/1457955109363671042?s=20

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Who are the Pro Palm Oil Lobbyists?

harassing, abusing, stalking, discrediting and gaslighting whistleblowers of corruption, greenwashing and ecocide in the RSPO?

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Orangutan Land Trust is known by critics of the industry and whistle-blowers of ‘sustainable’ palm oil corruption as the Palm Oil Lies Trust

This charity’s three ‘volunteers’ Bart W Van Assen, Michelle Desilets and Jane Griffiths are responsible for most of the misinformation and greenwashing about the sustainable palm oil on social media.

They confuse unaware consumers and harass critics calling them trolls, sustainability deniers, psychopaths, morons and conspiracy theorists – they behave very professionally. For nearly 20 years they have greenwashed the RSPO’s atrocious record on deforestation, human rights violations and illegal land-grabbing.

Bart Van Assen

Former auditor trainer for the RSPO and FSC, Bart Van Assen juggles various account names on Twitter before getting them banned for abusing people.

Bart has had 3 accounts banned from Twitter: @thewicorman @wildingrocks @bartwvanassen for harassment, abuse and stalking people. As a result of this behaviour, he has also had several police cases opened against him. He even talks in detail about how he stalked palm oil corruption whistleblower @ExposeLies2 on his website: Wilding Rocks. He has abused and harassed countless other people.

He currently uses: @palmoiltruther, @Apes4Forests @Forests4Apes @BartWVanAssen @eachtreematters @vliegerholland on Twitter. In the past, Bart has trained people to undertake audits in order to verify that palm oil plantations adhere to RSPO certified sustainable standards. The RSPO’s audits have been independently verified by different organisations to be fraudulent.

https://twitter.com/PalmOilDetect/status/1627875314792792064?s=20

Bart now harasses on Mastadon using this handle: https://mastodon.green/@wildlingrocks

Bart’s now permanently suspended account on Twitter with the same name

A tweet from Bart Van Assen, former lead auditor for the RSPO and HCV admitting that the main goal of the RSPO, FSC and other certification initiatives is not to prevent deforestation. (Bart has formerly used @palmoiltruther on Twitter but now changes between @Forest4Apes or @Apes4Forests depending on times when he attempts to conceal his identity).

He now has a start-up: Kayon. He is asking people to pay him money to keep trees standing in rainforests scheduled for destruction for palm oil. He calls this ‘pirating a tree’

Bart Van Assen: Former RSPO and FSC Auditor and vile troll on Twitter and Mastadon

Bart Van Assen: Lead Auditor Trainer for the RSPO

and full time greenwasher and online abuser of any person who declares that they want to boycott palm oil

EIA, Global Witness, Human Rights Watch, Sum of Us, Associated Press, Neue Zurcher Zeitung, Channel 4, The Guardian, Yale Environment 360 and ITV, World Health Organisation (WHO) and International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) have consistently produced reports showing that RSPO members continue with human rights abuses, deforestation and illegal land-grabbing and furthermore – that fraudulent auditing is the key reason for this failure of these palm oil companies adhere to the RSPO’s standards.

https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/812266949392601088?s=20

https://twitter.com/EIA_News/status/666229260215033856?s=20

https://twitter.com/SustPalmOil_BE/status/1071051202400538626?s=20

Fraudulent auditing in the RSPO

Many of these reports cite extremely poor auditing is a major reason for the failure of the RSPO. In other words, the auditing process is not, nor has ever been robust enough to prevent human rights abuses, deforestation and illegal indigenous land-grabbing from taking place.

Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA)

“Non-adherence to the RSPO’s standards is systemic and widespread, and has led to ongoing land conflicts, labour abuses and destruction of forests.

“As the world approaches 2020 targets to halt deforestation, the RSPO needs to rapidly implement radical solutions to restore its credibility. We question whether the RSPO is willing and able to rectify its systemic failures – ultimately, voluntary certification is too limited by its voluntary nature.”

— Who Watches the Watchmen Part 2: The continuing incompetence of the RSPO’s assurance systems (2019)

Changing Markets Foundation

“While RSPO is often referred to as the best scheme in the sector, it has several shortcomings; most notably it has not prevented human rights violations and it does not require GHG emissions reductions.”

— The False Promise of Certification (2018)

Greenpeace

“Implementation of [the RSPO’s] standards is often weak, with serious audit failures being reported, many members failing to meet the full range of membership requirements and grievances slow to be addressed.”

— Destruction Certified by Greenpeace (2021)

Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA)

“Without assurance mechanisms that properly function, the RSPO has little credibility and its claims are hollow.

“RSPO companies have continued to be beset
by assurance issues in 2020. Associated Press notably reported on labour violations in Malaysia, including by RSPO members. These allegations included forced labour, the abuse of women and child labour, among others.”

— Burning Questions – Credibility of sustainable palm oil still illusive – Environmental Investigation Agency (2021)

A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)

RSPO’s annual conference 2019: a focus on faulty audits

It was also acknowledged that the taskforce did not have the capacity to handle the responsibilities that it had set itself, and that besides training, a new model where the work was outsourced might be needed.

In ending the session, the panelists identified the most important things that would kickstart better assurance, namely: obtaining feedback to improve the assurance system, formulating better social policy, improved communications, rigour in meeting deadlines, and maintaining credible audits.

RT Report 2019

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Read more

Kirby, David (2015) Sustainable Palm Oil? Who Knows, Thanks to Derelict Auditors, Take Part

Lang, Chris & REDD Monitor (2015) Sustainable palm oil? RSPO’s greenwashing and fraudulent audits exposed. Ecologist: Informed by Nature.

Vit, Jonathan (2015) Greenwashing? RSPO audits rife with ‘mistakes and fraud,’ report finds. Mongabay.

https://twitter.com/VanessaFiji/status/1343842368915726337?s=20

https://twitter.com/palmoiltruther/status/1448162583958151169?s=20

https://twitter.com/palmoiltruther/status/1463139065289601027?s=20

https://twitter.com/palmoiltruther/status/1423973381292974085?s=20

https://twitter.com/palmoiltruther/status/1420996831857762305?s=20

https://twitter.com/palmoiltruther/status/1445783304213434383?s=20

https://twitter.com/orangutans/status/1430184928898080776?s=20

https://twitter.com/orangutans/status/1452580747320102912?s=20

https://twitter.com/palmoiltruther/status/1452529559883051008?s=20

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Michelle Desilets

Executive Director of Orangutan Land Trust Michelle Desilets manages both the @orangutans and @orangulandtrust accounts on Twitter.

• Michelle Desilets threatening and harassing people
• Michelle Desilets threatening and harassing people
• Michelle Desilets threatening and harassing people
• Michelle Desilets threatening and harassing people
• Bart Van Assen AKA Wilding Rocks AKA The Wicorman AKA PalmOilTruther harassing people and getting banned from Twitter
• Michelle Desilets at the RSPO conference

https://twitter.com/orangutans/status/1423218195847172098?s=20

https://twitter.com/orangutans/status/1434147701671829509?s=20

https://twitter.com/orangutans/status/1452980378394824711?s=20

https://twitter.com/orangutans/status/1360920014619095040?s=20

https://twitter.com/orangutans/status/1333720262655815681?s=20

https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1451148455435513861?s=20

https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1436350934108495873?s=20

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Jane Griffiths

@griffjane and @NewQuaySSPO

Jane is a ‘volunteer’ for Orangutan Land Trust, rarely does she openly harass or abuse people, however she does jump to most conversations about palm oil and gaslights and generates doubt. She casts doubt by citing the partnership of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) and the RSPO and an approval of the RSPO from David Attenborough in the form of a handwritten letter.

https://twitter.com/griffjane/status/1451532542436335621?s=20

https://twitter.com/griffjane/status/1452310144671436807?s=20

https://twitter.com/orangutans/status/1451535516344672258?s=20

https://twitter.com/griffjane/status/1256461066512535552?s=20

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Example: Greenwashing with lies, abuse, discrediting whistleblowers

Craig Jones, one of the most respected photojournalists in Britain recorded a mother and baby close to death on an RSPO palm oil plantation – PT Sisirau in 2012

He was later told that he needed to hold off on releasing the photos of this hellish scene until after the RSPO conference.

He recalls it here

• Eyewitness Story: The Last Village by Dr Setia Budhi

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Bart and Michelle claim that Craig was lying about this, that PT Sisirau was not an RSPO member palm oil plantation. The problem with that accusation is that there is public evidence from the RSPO’s own website which shows that this is a blatant lie.

A complaint was made to the RSPO by Helen Buckland, personal friend of Michelle Desilets and Director of OrangutanSOS. She attempted to prevent Craig from publishing the deeply horrific images until after the RSPO conference that year. The RSPO took a full year to send investigators to the plantation to examine the situation. The complaint, meeting minutes and report is below.

• View thread on Twitter
• View thread on Twitter
• View thread on Twitter
• View thread on Twitter
• View thread on Twitter
• View thread on Twitter
• View thread on Twitter
• View thread on Twitter

Michelle Desilets who conducts greenwashing for the RSPO in her ‘volunteer’ role for Orangutan Land Trust is also on the Complaints Panel for the RSPO. She investigates complaints of human rights and labour abuses, illegal land-grabbing, ecocide and illegal deforestation on RSPO palm oil plantations. She was part of the decision-making on PT Sisirau, so her tweets are a blatant lie that has been caught out.

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Despite the presence of some threatened species, the area has an impoverished animal community. It is useful to look at the families that are missing. There were no tracks of: scavenging viverrids, arboreal squirrels and tupaiids and tragulids. All these would be expected in scrub and agricultural areas.

There were no overflying ardeids and other water birds from the nearby coastal wetland areas. No overflying hornbills from the adjacent from the nearby protected forests. In the scrub and secondary areas there were no drongos, flowerpeckers, starlings, flycatchers and babblers living off the local insects and fruit. There was a single cuckoo calling and no calls from barbets. And despite being a palm growing area, there were no parrots and no aerial feeding swifts.

The area within the project site and beyond in the Gunung Leuser Ecosystem area was extensively disturbed and clearance removed most of the low mobility, forest dependent species in the project site and beyond.

PT Sisirau’s compliance to the RSPO’s Sustainable Palm Oil Principles

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Explore the series

Join the #Boycott4Wildlife #Boycottpalmoil and fight deforestation and greenwashing by using your wallet as a weapon!

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Further reading on palm oil ecocide, greenwashing and deceptive marketing

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Contribute to my Ko-Fi

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Palm Oil Detectives is completely self-funded by its creator. All hosting and website fees and investigations into brands are self-funded by the creator of this online movement. If you like what I am doing, you and would like me to help meet costs, please send Palm Oil Detectives a thanks on Ko-Fi.

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#10 #advertising #Boycott4wildlife #BoycottPalmOil #branding #consumerBoycott #consumerRights #consumerism #corporateCapture #Fightgreenwashing #Gaslighting #greenwash #greenwashing #harassment #lobbying #OrangutanLandTrust #ResistGreenwashing #RSPO #RSPOGreenwashing #stalking

Greenwashing Tactic 9: Partnerships, Sponsorships and Research Funding

Greenwashing Tactic:

Partnerships, Sponsorships & Research Funding

Definition: Using corporate and NGO partnerships, sponsorships and research funding to give a commodity, an industry, ecolabel or company a ‘green’ and ‘eco-friendly’ reputation

Take action by sharing this

#Partnerships between Zoos or NGOs and big brands leads to #greenwashing and deception. Commodities: #Palmoil, #meat #sugar causing #ecocide or health problems gain a reputation boost. One example: “Sustainable” #palmoil. #BoycottPalmOil @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/10/14/greenwashing-tactic-9-partnerships/

#Greenwashing tactic: When #corporate #partnerships and funding is given to a brand or an industry #ecolabel like RSPO in order to foster a ‘greener’ reputation for #palmoil which is bad for #health and the #environment #Boycottpalmoil 🌴⛔️ @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/10/14/greenwashing-tactic-9-partnerships/

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Orangutan Land Trust funded by rainforest destroying palm oil co. Kulim Malaysia Berhad

Orangutan Land Trust funded by Agropalma: during decades-long destruction of the Amazon for palm oil

Orangutan Land Trust and New Britain Palm Oil (NBPOL): Deep financial links

Greenwashing Partnership: Orangutan Land Trust, Ferrero & Chester Zoo

Greenwashing Partnership: WWF

Greenwashing Partnership: WAZA

Greenwashing Partnership: Chester Zoo & the RSPO

Greenwashing Partnership: Sustainable Palm Oil Cities

Greenwashing Partnership: Mobile apps

Greenwashing Research

Reality: Human rights abuses, land-grabbbing by RSPO members

Reality: Chester Zoo promoting “sustainable” palm oil and connected to slavery

Reality: RSPO 14 Years of Failure by Friends of the Earth and 100 other NGOs

Reality: Associated Press Investigation into RSPO members

Reality: Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) Investigation RSPO plantations on fire

Explore the Series

Further reading: greenwashing and deceptive marketing

Say thanks for this guide by donating to my Ko-Fi

Greenwashing through partnerships

Greenwashing occurs when private companies and global multinational corporations leverage the reputation of NGOs, researchers and ecolabels in order to greenwash their own murky and ambiguous reputation.

“A concern of [private corporations] is the absence of legitimacy, which can come with government action. Thus, private companies can choose to engage in partnerships with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) for their actions to have a legitimacy framework.”

Isabelle Hayes, NGO Partnerships Providing Legitimacy to Private Environmental Governance, 42 Pace Env’t L. Rev 254 (2025) https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/pelr/vol42/iss2/2/

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Orangutan Land Trust funded by rainforest destroying palm oil co. Kulim Malaysia Berhad

Orangutan Land Trust accepts a cheque for $500,000 for ‘worthy organisations on the ground’ from Kulim Malaysia Berhad, a palm oil company that is a corporate partner of Orangutan Land Trust as well and that has deforestation in their supply chain.

BSI, a company that conducts audits for the RSPO is a corporate partner of Orangutan Land Trust. BSI approved the certification of another one of Orangutan Land Trust’s partners Kulim Malaysia Berhad recognising them as being ‘sustainable’ according to the RSPO

In 2015, Orangutan Land Trust listed Kulim Malaysia Berhad, a palm oil company as one of their corporate partners on their website.

“Responsible and committed companies like Kulim ensure that no orangutan habitat is affected by their operations while also supporting conservation efforts outside their concession areas,” said Michelle Desilets, Executive Director, Orangutan Land Trust.

Michelle Desilets, quoted in Merdeka, Sept 2015

https://twitter.com/orangutans/status/649498074797240320?s=20

World’s largest sovereign wealth fund drops Kulim Malaysia Berhad over deforestation’ – Mongabay

A few months later in March 2016, Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), which manages $828 billion worth of funds, revealed that they had dropped Kulim Malaysia Berhad from their investment portfolio because Kulim were involved in ‘severe environmental damage and ecocide’ ‘World’s largest sovereign wealth fund just dropped 11 companies over deforestation’ – Mongabay.

The HAZE Elimination Team Facebook group asked Michelle Desilets to reveal who specifically received the funds. She did not provide funding recipients. See thread on Facebook and news story in Indonesian.

Again in 2019 on Twitter, Michelle Desilets was asked who received the money in Kalimantan. She did not answer. She has since been asked many times and only ever provided evasive answers about who exactly received the 500K from Kulim Malaysia Berhad

https://twitter.com/oliverinstead/status/1193563172814364675?s=20

https://twitter.com/oliverinstead/status/1193810838035013633?s=20

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Orangutan Land Trust funded by Agropalma: during their decades-long destruction of the Amazon for palm oil

Orangutan Land Trust mentions fellow RSPO member Agropalma as being a sponsor and funder on their website and annual ACOP ( a report given to the RSPO) in 2014. Agropalma are listed on the OLT website until 2019.

“With Agropalma’s generous support, we can enable conservation activities in Indonesia and Malaysia that will not only help to protect the orangutan, but also all the biodiversity that shares its rainforest habitat”.

Michelle Desilets of Orangutan Land Trust, quoted in the 2015 Agropalma Sustainability Report and on the Agropalma website, their full sustainability report is here.

From 2014- 2022 Orangutan Land Trust promote Agropalma on Twitter and elsewhere as offering “sustainable” palm oil \

https://twitter.com/orangutans/status/515812062585298944?s=20&t=NrgnxE2LYTY4UJU6IlUDhQ

https://twitter.com/orangutans/status/535240403843579905?s=20&t=NrgnxE2LYTY4UJU6IlUDhQ

https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1020445479753142283?s=20&t=NrgnxE2LYTY4UJU6IlUDhQ

https://twitter.com/orangutans/status/1022764387986227200?s=20&t=NrgnxE2LYTY4UJU6IlUDhQ

https://twitter.com/orangutans/status/1140649377654067201?s=20&t=NrgnxE2LYTY4UJU6IlUDhQ

A report by the Palm Oil Innovation Group (POIG) on their website between 2014-2020 reveals that Agropalma have been paying Orangutan Land Trust 10,000 GBP per quarter. Read report

In 2022, Agropalma were the subject of a 2022 Global Witness report into the destruction of the Amazon rainforest and violence against indigenous land defenders. Read report

Between 2015 -2020, Agropalma were assessed by the RSPO’s Complaints Panel for human rights abuses. This panel includes Orangutan Land Trust’s Executive Director Michelle Desilets as a decision maker.

In 2020, the RSPO ruled in favour of Agropalma and against the human rights defenders and closed the case. Read letter

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Orangutan Land Trust and New Britain Palm Oil (NBPOL): Deep financial links

There are deep financial and management links between the NGO Orangutan Land Trust, the RSPO, and palm oil company New Britain Palm Oil.

In 2012, in addition to receiving funds from Agropalma – Orangutan Land Trust received funds from palm oil company New Britain Palm Oil, while Michelle Desilets (and others) made decisions on the RSPO’s Complaints Panel about human rights cases related to New Britain Palm Oil. Read original document

In 2012 Michelle Desilets and Simon Lord went onto TV to spruik the benefits of the RSPO and sustainable palm oil together. See original

https://youtu.be/mQz1fWgEsIk

Concurrently from 2012-2017 Simon Lord was the Sustainability Manager for New Britain Palm Oil as well as being the registered Director of Orangutan Land Trust during the period where cash donations were made from New Britain Palm Oil to Orangutan Land Trust.

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Greenwashing:

Orangutan Land Trust, Ferrero & Chester Zoo

Global brands and RSPO members Ferrero and Wilmar (linked to extensive human rights abuses and deforestation) work together with Chester Zoo, Orangutan Land Trust and the RSPO to promote sustainable palm oil

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Political lobbying by Orangutan Land Trust, Ferrero and Chester Zoo means the UK government removes all tariffs on UK palm oil imports

In April 2023, Ferrero, Chester Zoo Orangutan Land Trust met with members of the UK Parliament. A few days later, UK MP Kemi Badenoch’s announced that the UK would be removing all tariffs on the import of palm oil. This move makes it straightforward for unchecked dirty palm oil to make its way into the UK, all of it directly linked to deforestation and human rights abuses. This shocking decision by the UK government was met with enormous opposition by media and environmental and human rights groups in the UK and all over the world.

https://twitter.com/FerreroUK/status/1641809530043375616?s=20

Michelle Desilets of Orangutan Land Trust pushing “sustainable” palm oil at a Ferrero corporate event in 2016

https://youtu.be/oG1D_rpfK_8

https://twitter.com/JustHungryE/status/1432221681511112706?s=20

https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1183789005298642945?s=20

https://twitter.com/VolacWilmar/status/1446135374317690881?s=20

https://twitter.com/BettyShmem/status/1433333955063918593?s=20

https://www.efeca.com/our-work/dorset-sustainable-community/useful-resources-for-champions/

Greenwashing:

World Wildlife Fund (WWF)

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WWF provides an annual Palm Oil Scorecard which ranks supermarket brands (RSPO members) providing consumers with baseless reassurances of palm oil sustainability.

WWF’s Palm Oil Scorecard ranks RSPO members (supermarket brands) such as: Tesco, Nestle, Ferrero, Unilever, Pepsi, CocaCola, Hersheys, Colgate-Palmolive, L’Oreal, Avon, Johnson&Johnson, Mondelez, PZ Cussons, Mars. This score card omits deforestation, fires, human rights abuses, illegal landgrabbing, violence and ecocide caused by these same RSPO members, by using ‘green’ words and design.

A founding member of the RSPO, WWF adds legitimacy and is a well-known global conservation brand. Their mission of saving animals has been overtaken by corporate interests and the need for corporate funding.

https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/796539575522889732?s=20

https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1393889886780940289?s=20

https://twitter.com/Ferrero_EU/status/1181857138202808320?s=20

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Greenwashing:

World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA)

Zoos around the world promote the use of RSPO ‘sustainable’ palm oil

Despite clear, long-term evidence of indigenous land-grabbing, human rights abuses, ecocide, violence and deforestation by RSPO members

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Chester Zoo provides educational and marketing resources to the Zoo network. The RSPO members (supermarket brands) provide sponsorship and funding in exchange for the promotion of sustainable palm oil.

https://twitter.com/CheyenneMtnZoo/status/1447986675557208071?s=20

https://twitter.com/ActforWildlife/status/1093547007900295170?s=20

https://twitter.com/TheTorontoZoo/status/1447952220239114244?s=20

https://twitter.com/ColumbusZoo/status/1290673775416094721?s=20

https://twitter.com/EPOA_EU/status/1006881349121269760?s=20&t=OHvbIfRXvQyDlMKMU1Ih1A

https://twitter.com/BIAZA/status/920936314178064384?s=20&t=hoWnT_T-BarKZ5cG8xLK2w

https://twitter.com/BIAZA/status/1447955396229050371?s=20

https://twitter.com/ElephantsIEF/status/1430878013617496068?s=20

https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/989461599676190720?s=20&t=OHvbIfRXvQyDlMKMU1Ih1A

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Greenwashing:

Chester Zoo & the RSPO push ‘sustainable’ palm oil in UK schools

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Chester Zoo and the RSPO promote educational resources and marketing materials about ‘sustainable’ palm oil to children and teens across the UK

https://twitter.com/HaltonLibraries/status/1164903994210304000?s=20

https://twitter.com/buttonlane_/status/1128291851365244928

https://twitter.com/LearnatCZ/status/1049600907036553216?s=20

https://twitter.com/SJPHeadTeacher/status/1407262083004223495?s=20

https://twitter.com/sizeofwales/status/1446089633306226693?s=20

This term, Year 6 have been studying deforestation and the need for sustainable palm oil in our everyday items. Our research of products, sustainable sources and the effect on wildlife culminated in a group being invited to deliver a presentation at @chesterzoo for @LearnatCZ

Originally tweeted by St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School (@stjosephsbh) on October 21, 2021.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFDhzax7Cbc

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Greenwashing:

Sustainable Palm Oil Cities

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Chester Zoo, Ferrero, Orangutan Land Trust and the RSPO push sustainable palm oil to city councils in the ‘Sustainable Palm Oil Cities’ initiative.

https://twitter.com/MargotLogman/status/1059546861810401281?s=20

https://youtu.be/8FECPNmy5t0

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Greenwashing:

Mobile apps are promoted by zoos and the RSPO to push sustainable palm oil

The Giki Earth, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo app and Impact Score App promote ‘sustainable’ palm oil to consumers, giving them the reassurances of ‘orangutan safe’ and ‘sustainable’ choices in the supermarket

https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1443882347783507968?s=20

https://twitter.com/newquaysspo/status/1164792405586919425?s=20

https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1207670820102901760?s=20

https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1210579888366854144?s=20

https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1380416451069247488?s=20

https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1369967792800333826?s=20

https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1207670820102901760?s=20

‘Orangutan Friendly’ recommendations in the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo app include all RSPO ‘certified sustainable’ members linked to deforestation, ecocode and human rights abuses for palm oil

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Greenwashing:

Research that examines the RSPO’s ‘sustainability’ is funded by the RSPO and industry, i.e. global food companies

Pictured: Dr Jennifer Lucey presents on findings of the SEnSOR programme @SensorProgramme via @SEARRP on Twitter

Original tweet

https://twitter.com/SEARRP/status/1062260582894596102?s=20

SEnSOR (Socially and Environmentally Sustainable Oil palm Research) is a research programme set-up to examine the environmental and social impact of the RSPO. However, as this photo from Twitter reveals, it is funded by the RSPO, along with the industry – meaning global supermarket brands and palm oil companies that are part of the RSPO. No specific mention of industry funding is present on any research papers, the university websites, the SEnSOR website or anywhere else.

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The SEnSOR project receives funding from the RSPO but is still apparently able to release findings that are independent and critical of the certification scheme.

Funding relationships with the RSPO are left off the University of York’s website. There is no mention at all of palm oil research or of SEnSOR project on the University of Oxford’s website either.

https://twitter.com/danielarancibia/status/666115310978621440?s=20

In research published by the SEnSOR project, authors declare that they have done work for palm oil companies and/or the RSPO.

Research papers produced by the SEnSOR programme analysing the RSPO’s sustainability and effectiveness – paid for by the RSPO and industry

See detail of funding sources on the UKRI website and here.

The results of SEnSOR’s research studies reveal that RSPO certification is ineffective at stopping deforestation, loss of biodiversity and improving livelihoods of smallholder farmers. Read more.

Wilmar International : And Searrp Collaborate For Scientific Research In Forest Rehabilitation

04/18/2022 | 05:34am EDT

Wilmar and SEARRP have worked together since 2006 where the collaboration between both parties to support academic research has shed light on the impact and role of sustainably managed palm oil plantations in supporting and maintaining forest biodiversity in and around the plantations.

Among the key findings of the research were a proposed forest patch size that is viable for biodiversity conservation, the importance of forest quality to increase viability for conservation and the position of a conservation area in relation to other intact forest areas in the landscape.

The partnership had also culminated in a workshop organised in 2015 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, entitled “Enhancing biodiversity conservation in the oil palm industry: Translating science into action”. Read more

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These same researchers act as public campaigners and spokespeople for ‘sustainable’ palm oil

https://twitter.com/PalmDoneRight/status/1425392987014578178?s=20

To be successful in avoiding biodiversity losses RSPO plantations need to demonstrate avoided deforestation, and reduced fragmentation with higher forest cover and connectivity within their concession areas.

The Potential for Oil Palm Landscapes to Support At-Risk Species

https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/931250878195159040?s=20

Dr Jennifer Lucey’s research, which is funded by the RSPO and industry sets out the minimum amount of rainforest that can be left over for endangered species by the palm oil industry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHh8MJ7w3BM

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Dr Eric Meijaard is the Chair of the IUCN Palm Oil Taskforce

He produces research about sustainable palm oil that is either ambiguous and inconclusive or positive about the effect that ‘sustainable’ palm oil plantations have on biodiversity and ecology. He publicly promotes the idea of sustainable palm oil, despite its links to ecocide, deforestation and human rights abuses associated with RSPO members (supermarket brands, palm oil traders and producers).

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Reality

Human rights abuses, land-grabbbing by RSPO members

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We find positive effects on prices and income from sale of certified products. However, we find no change in overall household income and assets for workers. The wages for workers are not higher in certified production.

Oya, C., Schaefer, F. & Skalidou, D. The effectiveness of agricultural certification in developing countries: a systematic review. World Dev. 112, 282–312 (2018).

We find that, while sustainability standards can help improve the sustainability of production processes in certain situations, they are insufficient to ensure food system sustainability at scale, nor do they advance equity objectives in agrifood supply chains.

Meemken, EM., Barrett, C.B., Michelson, H.C. et al. Sustainability standards in global agrifood supply chains. Nat Food (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00360-3

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Chester Zoo: promoting “sustainable” palm oil and connected to slavery

Chester Zoo has a ‘Modern Slavery’ act on their website which prohibits slavery in their suppliers and partners. Yet they are a public partner of the RSPO, an industry certification scheme deeply embedded in ecocide, corruption, deforestation, human rights abuses. They also partner with Ferrero and receive funding from them – a global food company and RSPO member involved in slavery, deforestation and human rights abuses.

Yet Chester Zoo partners with and promotes RSPO members and receives funding from Ferrero, a global food company and RSPO member with links to child slavery and deforestation.

A 2021 Investigation by Global Witness finds that palm oil companies in Papua New Guinea are alleged to have been involved in corruption, child labour, apparent tax evasion, deforestation, worker deaths and paying police to assault villagers.

The palm oil from these mills is used by RSPO members Colgate-Palmolive, Kelloggs, General Mills, Nestle, Hersheys, Danone, PZ Cussons – finds its way into our weekly supermarket shop.

A 2021 campaign by Sum of Us delivers 260,000 signatures on a petition to the US government to order Ferrero to stop sourcing palm oil.

Ferrero’s palm oil used in products like Ferrero Rocher and Nutella. Their palm oil is linked to child slavery, violence, human rights abuses and deforestation.

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RSPO: 14 years of failure to eliminate violence and destruction from the industrial palm oil sector

Friends of the Earth and 100 other human rights and environmental NGOS co-signed this letter in 2018

Letter

During its 14 years of existence, RSPO – the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil – has failed to live up to its claim of “transforming” the industrial palm oil production sector into a so-called “sustainable” one. In reality, the RSPO has been used by the palm oil industry to greenwash corporate destruction and human rights abuses, while it continues to expand business, forest destruction and profits.

RSPO presents itself to the public with the slogan “transforming the markets to make sustainable palm oil the norm”. Palm oil has become the cheapest vegetable oil available on the global market, making it a popular choice among the group that dominates RSPO membership, big palm oil buyers.

They will do everything to secure a steady flow of cheap palm oil. They also know that the key to the corporate success story of producing “cheap” palm oil is a particular model of industrial production, with ever-increasing efficiency and productivity which in turn is achieved by:

Those living on the fertile land that the corporations choose to apply their industrial palm oil production model, pay a very high price.

Violence is intrinsic to this model:

• violence and repression when communities resist the corporate take over of their land because they know that once their land is turned into monoculture oil palm plantations, their livelihoods will be destroyed, their land and forests invaded. In countless cases, deforestation caused by the expansion of this industry, has displaced communities or destroyed community livelihoods where
• companies violate customary rights and take control of community land;
• sexual violence and harassment against women in and around the plantations which often stays invisible because women find themselves without possibilities to demand that the perpetrators be prosecuted;
• Child labour and precarious working conditions that go hand-in-hand with violation of workers’ rights;
• working conditions can even be so bad as to amount to contemporary forms of slavery. This exploitative model of work grants companies more economic profits while allowing palm oil to remain a cheap product. That is why, neither them or their shareholders do anything to stop it.

• exposure of workers, entire communities and forests, rivers, water springs, agricultural land and soils to the excessive application of agrotoxics;
• depriving communities surrounded by industrial oil palm plantations of their food sovereignty when industrial oil palm plantations occupy land that communities need to grow food crops.

RSPO’s proclaimed vision of transforming the industrial oil palm sector is doomed to fail because the Roundtable’s certification principles promote this structural violent and destructive model.

The RSPO also fails to address the industry’s reliance on exclusive control of large and contingent areas of fertile land, as well as the industry’s growth paradigm which demands a continued expansion of corporate control over community land and violent land grabs.

None of RPSO’s eight certification principles suggests transforming this industry reliance on exclusive control over vast areas of land or the growth paradigm inherent to the model.

Industrial use of vegetable oils has doubled in the past 15 years, with palm oil being the cheapest. This massive increase of palm oil use in part explains the current expansion of industrial oil palm plantations, especially in Africa and Latin America, from the year 2000 onward, in addition to the existing vast plantations areas in Malaysia and Indonesia that also continue expanding.

On the ground, countless examples show that industrial oil palm plantations continue to be synonymous to violence and destruction for communities and forests. Communities’ experiences in the new industrial oil palm plantation frontiers, such as Gabon, Nigeria, Cameroon, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Peru, Honduras, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, are similar to past and ongoing community experiences in Indonesia and Malaysia.

RSPO creates a smokescreen that makes this violence invisible for consumers and financiers. Governments often fail to take regulatory action to stop the expansion of plantations and increasing demand of palm oil; they rely on RSPO to deliver an apparently sustainable flow of palm oil.

For example, in its public propaganda, RSPO claims it supports more than 100,000 small holders. But the profit from palm oil production is still disproportionally appropriated by the oil palm companies: in 2016, 88% of all certified palm oil came from corporate plantations and 99,6% of the production is corporate-controlled.

RSPO also claims that the principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) is key among its own Principles and Criteria. The right to FPIC implies, among others, that if a community denies the establishment of this monoculture in its territory, operations cannot be carried out. Reality shows us, however, that despite this, many projects go ahead.

Concessions are often guaranteed long before the company reaches out to the affected communities. Under these circumstances, to say that FPIC is central to RSPO is bluntly false and disrespectful.

RSPO also argues that where conflicts with the plantation companies arise, communities can always use its complaint mechanism. However, the mechanism is complex and it rarely solves the problems that communities face and want to resolve.

This becomes particularly apparent in relation to land legacy conflicts where the mechanism is biased against communities. It allows companies to continue exploiting community land until courts have come to a decision. This approach encourages companies to sit out such conflicts and count on court proceedings dragging on, often over decades.

Another argument used by RSPO is that industrial oil palm plantations have lifted millions of people out of poverty. That claim is certainly questionable, even more so considering that there is also an important number of people who have been displaced over the past decades to make space for plantations.

Indigenous communities have in fact lost their fertile land, forests and rivers to oil palm plantations, adversely affecting their food, culture and local economies.

The RSPO promise of “transformation” has turned into a powerful greenwashing tool for corporations in the palm oil industry. RSPO grants this industry, which remains responsible for violent land grabbing, environmental destruction, pollution through excessive use of agrotoxics and destruction of peasant and indigenous livelihoods, a “sustainable” image.

What’s more, RSPO membership seems to suffice for investors and companies to be able to claim that they are “responsible” actors. This greenwash is particularly stunning, since being a member does not guarantee much change on the ground. Only recently, a company became RSPO member after it was found to deforest over 27.000 hectares of rainforest in Papua, Indonesia.

Certification is structurally dependent on the very same policies and regulation that have given rise to the host of environmental devastation and community land rights violations associated with oil palm plantations. These systemic governance issues are part of the destructive economic model, and embedded in state power.

For this reason, voluntary certification schemes cannot provide adequate protection for forests, community rights, food sovereignty and guarantee sustainability. Governments and financiers need to take responsibility to stop the destructive palm oil expansion that violates the rights of local communities and Indigenous Peoples.

As immediate steps, governments need to:

• Put in place a moratorium on palm oil plantations expansion and use that as a breathing space to fix the policy frameworks;
• Drastically reduce demand for palm oil: stop using food for fuel;
• Strengthen and respect the rights of local communities and Indigenous Peoples to amongst others, self-determination and territorial control.
• Promote agro-ecology and community control of their forests, which strengthens local incomes, livelihoods and food sovereignty, instead of advancing industrial agro-businesses.

Signatures

• Aalamaram-NGOAcción Ecológica, Ecuador
• ActionAid, France
• AGAPAN
  Amics arbres
• Arbres amics
• Amis de la Terre France
• ARAARBA (Asociación para la Recuperación del Bosque Autóctono)
• Asociación Conservacionista YISKI, Costa Rica
  Asociación Gaia El Salvador
• Association Congo Actif, Paris
• Association Les Gens du Partage, Carrières-sous-Poissy
• Association pour le développement des aires protégées, Swizterland
• BASE IS
• Bézu St Eloi
• Boxberg OT Uhyst
• Bread for all
• Bruno Manser Fund
• CADDECAE, Ecuador
• Campaign to STOP GE Trees
• CAP, Center for Advocacy Practices
• Centar za životnu sredinu/ Friends of the Earth Bosnia and Herzegovina
• CESTA – FOE El Salvador
• CETRI – Centre tricontinental
• Climate Change Kenya
• Coalición de Tendencia Clasista. (CTC-VZLA)
• Colectivo de Investigación y Acompañmiento Comunitario
• Collectif pour la défense des terres malgaches – TANY, Madagascar
• Community Forest Watch, Nigeria
• Consumers Association of Penang
• Corporate Europe Observatory
• Cuttington University
• Down to Earth Consult
• El Campello
• Environmental Resources Management and Social Issue Centre (ERMSIC) Cameroon
• Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria
• FASE ES , Brazil
• Fédération romande des consommateurs
• FENEV, (Femmes Environnement nature Entrepreneuriat Vert).
• Focus on the Global South
• Forum Ökologie & Papier, Germany
• Friends of the Earth Ghana
• Friends of the Earth International
• GE Free NZ, New Zealand
• Global Alliance against REDD
• Global Justice Ecology Project
• Global Info
• Gobierno Territorial Autónomo de la Nación Wampís , Peru
• GRAIN
• Green Development Advocates (GDA)
• CameroonGreystones, Ireland
• Groupe International de Travail pour les Peuples Autochtones
  Grupo ETC
• Grupo Guayubira, Uruguay
• Instituto Mexicano de Gobernanza Medioambiental AC Instituto Mexicano de Gobernanza Medioambiental AC
• Integrated Program for the Development of the Pygmy People (PIDP), DRC
• Justica Ambiental
• Justicia Paz e Integridad de la Creacion. Costa Rica
• Kempityari
• Latin Ambiente, http://www.latinambiente.org
• Les gens du partage
• LOYOLA SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY, MANILA
• Maderas del Pueblo del Sureste, AC
• Maiouri nature, Guyane
• Mangrove Action Project
• Milieudefensie – Friends of the Earth Netherlands
• Movimento Amigos da Rua Gonçalo de Carvalho
• Muyissi Environnement, Gabon
• Nature-d-congo de la République du Congo
• New Wind Association from Finland
• NOAH-Friends of the Earth Denmark
• Oakland Institute
• OFRANEH, Honduras
• Ole Siosiomaga Society Incorporated (OLSSI)
• ONG OCEAN : Organisation Congolaise des Ecologistes et Amis de la Nature et sommes basés en RD Congo.
• OPIROMA, Brazil
• Otros Mundos A.C./Amigos de la Tierra México
• Paramo Guerrrero Zipaquira
• PROYECTO GRAN SIMIO (GAP/PGS-España)
• Quercus – ANCN, Portugal
• Radd (Reseau des Acteurs du Développement Durable) , Cameroon
• Rainforest Foundation UK
• Rainforest Relief
• ReAct – Alliances Transnationales
• RECOMA – Red latinoamericana contra los monocultivos de árboles
• Red de Coordinacion en Biodiversidad , Çosta Rica
• REFEB-Cote d’Ivoire
• Rettet den Regenwald, Germany
• ROBIN WOOD
• Sahabat Alam Malaysia (Friends of the Earth Malaysia)
• Salva la Selva
• School of Democratic Economics, Indonesia
• Serendipalm Company Limited
• Sherpa , The Netherlands
• SYNAPARCAM, Cameroon
• The Corner House, UK
  Towards Equitable Sustainable Holistic Development
• TRAFFED KIVU ,RD. CONGOUNIÓN UNIVERSAL DESARROLLO SOLIDARIO
  University of Sussex, UK
• UTB ColombiaWatch Indonesia!
• WESSA
  World Rainforest Movement
• Youth Volunteers for the Environment Ghana

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Associated Press investigation (2020) finds widespread violence, rape and slavery of women by RSPO members: Colgate-Palmolive, L’Oreal, Avon, Unilever, Johnson&Johnson, for palm oil that ends up in beauty brands

https://twitter.com/AP/status/1330163571951611906?s=20

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“The expansion of oil palm plantations has created many detrimental environmental impacts, such as deforestation, loss of biodiversity, land conflicts, labour conflicts, and social conflicts around plantations.

“Environmental damage and social injustice were reasons why the global palm oil certification, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) was established.

“In practice, requirements for oil palm certifications are easily violated. Lots of things are problematic.”

— Dr Setia Budhi, Dayak Ethnographer, In His Own Words.

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Global corporates are responsible for the majority of palm oil production and deforestation risk, not smallholder farmers

The three biggest palm oil traders: Sinar Mas, Wilmar and Musim Mas – all RSPO members, also have the biggest deforestation risk. Deforestation goes against the RSPO’s rules.

Source: Insights: Indonesian Palm Oil. Trase Earth (2018)

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Reality

Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) Investigation RSPO plantations on fire

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Is there such a thing as sustainable palm oil? Satellite images show protected rainforest on fire – Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ)

Certification had no causal impact on forest loss in peatlands or active fire detection rates.

Kimberly M. Carlson, Robert Heilmayr, Holly K. Gibbs, Praveen Noojipady et al. Effect of oil palm sustainability certification on deforestation and fire in Indonesia, PNAS January 2, 2018 115 (1) 121-126 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1704728114

No significant difference was found between certified and non-certified plantations for any of the sustainability metrics investigated, however positive economic trends including greater fresh fruit bunch yields were revealed. To achieve intended outcomes, RSPO principles and criteria are in need of substantial improvement and rigorous enforcement.

Morgans, C. L. et al. Evaluating the effectiveness of palm oil certification in delivering multiple sustainability objectives. Environ. Res. Lett. 13, 064032 (2018).

The Neue Zuercher Zeitung used several cases to highlight where slash-and-burn techniques continue on RSPO-certified land, and where new plantations are threatening important ecosystems. These examples are representative of the huge gap between the need for environmental protection and the ever-increasing global demand for palm oil.

Adina Renner, Conradin Zellweger, Barnaby Skinner. ‘Is there such a thing as sustainable palm oil? Satellite images show protected rainforest on fire’. Neue Zürcher Zeitung (May 2021) (In English)

Swiss multinational Nestlé received hundreds of thousands of alerts of forest clearing near its palm oil suppliers in 2019 via satellite monitoring.

Nestlé identified over 1,000 cases of deforestation per day in palm oil areas. SwissInfo (2020).

https://twitter.com/adinarenner/status/1392148610448568329?s=20

Fire outbreaks in and around palm oil concessions (often starting from slash-and-burn fires to clear land for plantations).

Thousands of fire alerts recorded by Chain Reaction Research on RSPO member palm oil plantations

The top ten palm oil traders and refiners in Indonesia all had thousands of alerts for fires in their palm oil plantations – all are RSPO members

https://youtu.be/jdYT_g9ENxw?t=1346

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Explore the series

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Join the #Boycott4Wildlife

fight greenwashing and deforestation by using your wallet as a weapon!

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Further reading on palm oil ecocide, greenwashing and deceptive marketing

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Contribute to my Ko-Fi

Did you enjoy visiting this website?

Palm Oil Detectives is 100% self-funded

Palm Oil Detectives is completely self-funded by its creator. All hosting and website fees and investigations into brands are self-funded by the creator of this online movement. If you like what I am doing, you and would like me to help meet costs, please send Palm Oil Detectives a thanks on Ko-Fi.

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#advertising #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4wildlife #BoycottPalmOil #brand #brandBoycotts #branding #commodity #consumerRights #corporate #deforestation #ecocide #ecolabel #environment #Fightgreenwashing #funding #greenwashing #health #HumanRights #industry #meat #OrangutanLandTrust #palmoil #partnerships #research #RSPO #RSPOGreenwashing #sponsorships #sugar #UniversityOfOxford

Greenwashing Tactic 8: Design & Words

Using design principles and greenwashing language in order to trigger emotional and unconscious responses in consumers

Design & Words

Using subliminal design principles and greenwashing language that signals ‘greenness’ to consumers

Share this insight on Twitter…

#Greenwashing Tactic #8: #Design and #Words: Using subliminal #design principles and #greenwashing #language to convey ‘greenness’ to #consumers. We #Boycott4Wildlife #Boycottpalmoil #FightGreenwashing

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Greenwashing: Design Principles

Greenwashing Design Example: Palm Done Right

Greenwashing Design Example: WWF Palm Oil Scorecard 2021

Greenwashing with Words: Vegan Versus Plant-Based

Greenwashing with Words: Destructive Global Brands Claiming to be Vegan

What is Veganism?

Greenwashing with Words and Phrases that Signal ‘Greenness’

Explore the Series

Further reading: greenwashing and deceptive marketing

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Greenwashing: Design Principles

Some examples of design principles that signal ‘greenness’ in advertising

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Hand-drawn typography and fonts.

Pastel colours or blue and green hues.

Hand-drawn or vintage and nostalgic animals and children illustrations in packaging and advertising design that bring to mind children’s books.

Happy, uplifting and nostalgic music.

Visual storytelling involving nature.

Green clothing, natural ambient noise and reassuring happy colours set the scene for storytelling by Palm Done Right

Dr Jennifer Lucy’s research, which is funded by the RSPO and industry sets out the minimum amount of rainforest that can be left over for endangered species by the palm oil industry.

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Forest-inspired pie charts and hand-drawn icons tell the story of RSPO members in the 2021 WWF Palm Oil Scorecard

The WWF scorecard ranks RSPO member supermarket brands according to whether or not they have stopped with deforestation or other corrupt practices.

The WWF scorecard uses phrases like:

“9% of respondents have a deforestation and conversion free commitment.”

“88% of respondents have a human rights commitment”

What this means in reality…is absolutely nothing.

The most critical information is not included on the WWF Palm Oil Scorecard

That NONE of these supermarket brands (RSPO members) have ceased deforestation, land-grabbing, human rights abuses for palm oil. Instead, consumers are lulled into reassurances to purchase by the green, forest-inspired pie charts and positive, reassuring phrases.

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Greenwashing with Words

Vegan Versus Plant-Based

Global brands are now claiming ‘eco-friendly’ status by saying that their products are vegan. This is despite these same brands causing global ecocide for palm oil, putting at risk thousands of endangered species

This hijacking of the vegan label is deeply problematic for many vegans. They are all too aware of the devastation of palm oil on rainforest ecosystems and endangered forest species. Most environmentally aware vegans DO NOT agree that palm oil is vegan. The definition of veganism is not only if an ingredient is ‘plant-based.’

Veganism is the strong rejection of all cruelty, death and slavery of animals. Palm oil is a global scourge to all tropical animal species – it is therefore NOT VEGAN.

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Greenwashing with Words

Destructive Global Brands Claiming to be Vegan

The Body Shop: An RSPO member that uses so-called ‘sustainable’ palm oil, the Body Shop is able to persuade consumers of its green eco-friendly nature with the aid of forest-themed hand-drawn illustrations. Via Twitter

Nestle’s Vegan Kitkat: The world’s biggest consumer food brand has not suddenly become ‘green’. They continue with human rights abuses, deforestation, illegal landgrabbing for palm oil. However, claiming ‘Vegan’ status is a way to label themselves as green.

L’Oreal: is another brand cashing in on the vegan trend. By filling their cosmetics, hair care and skincare ranges with palm oil they claim vegan status. Via Twitter

Nestle Wunda drink: Nestle, one of the world’s most notorious brands linked to global ecocide and destruction, can now claim vegan status, despite causing ecocide for palm oil, soy and other ingredients. Via Twitter

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Palm oil is plant-based, so why isn’t it vegan?

Endorsement of palm oil as a vegan ingredient is both lazy and greedy on behalf of vegan organisations like Peta and the Vegan Society. These animal organisations receive sponsorship funding from corporates to endorse products containing palm oil. This ignores the immense global damage of palm oil. For any serious animal activist and vegan – veganism means more than a product being simply plant-based.

Veganism is:

A philosophy and a consumer lifestyle of avoidance of brands and products where these brands or products cause harm to animals. This harm could be:

• Animal murder for human consumption.
• The enslavement of animals for the benefit of humans.
• Cruelty, violence or murder of animals for human entertainment or sport.
• Animal testing or experimentation that benefits humans.
• The destruction of rainforests where the highest concentration of endangered species live, for palm oil, meat, soy or other commodities in order to create consumer products.

True veganism is a philosophy that respects and appreciates all ecosystems and the lives of non-human beings within them. It does not make excuses for ecocide and animal extinction, just for the sake of cheap supermarket goods.

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Greenwashing

Words and Phrases that Signal ‘Greenness

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These words trigger automatic, emotional and unconscious responses in consumers. Language works effortlessly in conjunction with greenwashing design to hit the right emotional buttons and to have a positive and rewarding emotional effect on consumers’ minds

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Explore the series

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Join the #Boycott4Wildlife and fight palm oil deforestation and greenwashing by using your wallet as a weapon!

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Further reading on palm oil ecocide, greenwashing and deceptive marketing

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Contribute to my Ko-Fi

Did you enjoy visiting this website?

Palm Oil Detectives is 100% self-funded

Palm Oil Detectives is completely self-funded by its creator. All hosting and website fees and investigations into brands are self-funded by the creator of this online movement. If you like what I am doing, you and would like me to help meet costs, please send Palm Oil Detectives a thanks on Ko-Fi.

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#8 #advertising #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4wildlife #BoycottPalmOil #brandBoycotts #branding #consumerRights #consumers #Design #Fightgreenwashing #greenwashing #language #OrangutanLandTrust #RSPO #RSPOGreenwashing #Words

Greenwashing Tactic #5: Irrelevance and Deflection

Claiming a brand, commodity or industry is green based on irrelevant information. A common greenwashing tactic is to shift the conversation towards an irrelevant issue that deflects from the environmental issue at hand.

#Greenwashing Tactic 5. Irrelevance and Deflection: A greenwashing tactic that shifts conversation away from criticising “sustainable’ #palmoil towards an irrelevant topics #Boycott4Wildlife #Boycottpalmoil #Fightgreenwashing @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/09/02/greenwashing-tactic-5-irrelevance-and-deflection/

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Greenwashing: Irrelevant Topics

Greenwashing: Colonial Racism

Research: Palm oil greenwashing and its link to climate denialism

Reality: RSPO Certification Doesn’t Stop Deforestation, Human Rights Abuses etc.

Reality: Global Witness report links supermarket brands (RSPO members) to palm oil plantation deaths

RSPO 14 Years of Failure to Eliminate Violence and Destruction from the Industrial Palm Oil Sector

Quote: Greenpeace: Destruction Certified (2021)

Research: Certification is a weak tool for sustainability

Explore the Series

Join the #Boycott4Wildlife

Further Reading: Palm Oil, Greenwashing and Deceptive Marketing

Say thanks for this guide by donating to my Ko-Fi

Greenwashing: Irrelevant Topics

Palm oil lobbyists steer people’s online conversations away from criticising sustainable palm oil or calling for a boycott of palm oil, towards other topics that are irrelevant

RSPO Lobbyists such as Bart Van Assen, Michelle Desilets and Jane Griffiths of Orangutan Land Trust often combine this tactic with abuse and harassment. This is done to intimidate individuals and stop them spreading awareness about the corruption of so-called ‘sustainable’ palm oil.

https://twitter.com/griffjane/status/1579405878289391616?s=20&t=2Aa75dFHQ0fwliPOX6URlw

https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1430122518900248579?s=20

https://twitter.com/palmoiltruther/status/1445646231909269511?s=20

https://twitter.com/KiwiButts/status/1578193115143290880?s=20&t=FkZDtmmXP-27Lj2hSs5IDw

https://twitter.com/palmoiltruther/status/1428697944287440900?s=20

https://twitter.com/palmoiltruther/status/1444177072323239937?s=20

https://twitter.com/orangutans/status/1151801434557636612?s=20

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Greenwashing: Colonial Racism

Palm oil lobbyists divert consumers’ attention away from exposing the corruption of ‘sustainable’ palm oil.

They do this by claiming that people from wealthy nations want to halt the growth of palm oil in developing nations and that this is unfair and a form of ‘colonial racism’

The gist of this argument is:

‘Europeans have destroyed their forests for agriculture, so why can’t we do the same in the tropics? Stopping our economic development is hypocrisy and colonialism’

Research analysing media and social media messages around palm oil in Malaysia and Indonesia finds that palm oil lobbyists use an ‘Us’ Versus ‘Them’ narrative, in other words, they invoke colonial racism.

Four mutually complementary narratives were used by Indonesian and Malaysian media to construe denialism, which closely resemble the four climate denialist narratives identified by Elsasser and Dunlap (2013). These denialist narratives draw heavily upon information advocated by divergent knowledge communities (Goldstein 2016) and appeal to a nationalist sentiment of ‘us’ – palm oil-producing developing countries – and ‘them’ – western developed countries producing research critical of the industry.

Liu, Felicia & Ganesan, Vignaa & Smith, Thomas. (2020). Contrasting communications of sustainability science in the media coverage of palm oil agriculture on tropical peatlands in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Environmental Science & Policy. 114. 162-169. 10.1016/j.envsci.2020.07.004.

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https://twitter.com/palmoiltruther/status/1420662530863550464?s=20

https://twitter.com/palmoilmonitor/status/1445795527560515587?s=20

https://twitter.com/HypocrisyKiller/status/1343303480308469760?s=20

We had the luck to be born into a developed country, I believe we need to acknowledge the right of lesser-developed countries to develop. We simply have no right to tell a country like Indonesia to forgo economic development, but we can help to steer that development in a sustainable direction.

Michelle Desilets, Director, Orangutan Land Trust. The Switch Report, 2014

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Reality

RSPO palm oil certification has not improved worker’s incomes and has not stopped human rights abuses, violence, slavery or illegal indigenous land-grabbing, since the RSPO’s inception 17 years ago

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Global Witness October 2021 Report: Violence and death for palm oil connected to household supermarket brands (RSPO members)

“One palm oil firm, Rimbunan Hijau, [Papua New Guinea] negligently ignored repeated and avoidable worker deaths and injuries on palm oil plantations, with at least 11 workers and the child of one worker losing their lives over an eight-year period.

“Tainted palm oil from Papua New Guinea plantations was sold to household name brands, all of them RSPO members including Kellogg’s, Nestlé, Colgate, Danone, Hershey’s and PZ Cussons and Reckitt Benckiser”

The true price of palm oil: How global finance funds deforestation, violence and human rights abuses in Papua New Guinea – Global Witness, 2021

https://twitter.com/Global_Witness/status/1446177252832681986?s=20

https://twitter.com/GreenpeaceUK/status/1444977893965238274?s=20

https://twitter.com/EIA_News/status/1306208749825163265?s=20

https://twitter.com/AP/status/1330163320566018053?s=20

https://twitter.com/GreenpeaceUK/status/1427199556916293635?s=20

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RSPO: 14 years of failure to eliminate violence and destruction from the industrial palm oil sector

Friends of the Earth and 100 other human rights and environmental NGOS co-signed this letter in 2018

Letter

During its 14 years of existence, RSPO – the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil – has failed to live up to its claim of “transforming” the industrial palm oil production sector into a so-called “sustainable” one. In reality, the RSPO has been used by the palm oil industry to greenwash corporate destruction and human rights abuses, while it continues to expand business, forest destruction and profits.

RSPO presents itself to the public with the slogan “transforming the markets to make sustainable palm oil the norm”. Palm oil has become the cheapest vegetable oil available on the global market, making it a popular choice among the group that dominates RSPO membership, big palm oil buyers.

They will do everything to secure a steady flow of cheap palm oil. They also know that the key to the corporate success story of producing “cheap” palm oil is a particular model of industrial production, with ever-increasing efficiency and productivity which in turn is achieved by:

Those living on the fertile land that the corporations choose to apply their industrial palm oil production model, pay a very high price.

Violence is intrinsic to this model:

• violence and repression when communities resist the corporate take over of their land because they know that once their land is turned into monoculture oil palm plantations, their livelihoods will be destroyed, their land and forests invaded. In countless cases, deforestation caused by the expansion of this industry, has displaced communities or destroyed community livelihoods where
• companies violate customary rights and take control of community land;
• sexual violence and harassment against women in and around the plantations which often stays invisible because women find themselves without possibilities to demand that the perpetrators be prosecuted;
• Child labour and precarious working conditions that go hand-in-hand with violation of workers’ rights;
• working conditions can even be so bad as to amount to contemporary forms of slavery. This exploitative model of work grants companies more economic profits while allowing palm oil to remain a cheap product. That is why, neither them or their shareholders do anything to stop it.

• exposure of workers, entire communities and forests, rivers, water springs, agricultural land and soils to the excessive application of agrotoxics;
• depriving communities surrounded by industrial oil palm plantations of their food sovereignty when industrial oil palm plantations occupy land that communities need to grow food crops.

RSPO’s proclaimed vision of transforming the industrial oil palm sector is doomed to fail because the Roundtable’s certification principles promote this structural violent and destructive model.

The RSPO also fails to address the industry’s reliance on exclusive control of large and contingent areas of fertile land, as well as the industry’s growth paradigm which demands a continued expansion of corporate control over community land and violent land grabs.

None of RPSO’s eight certification principles suggests transforming this industry reliance on exclusive control over vast areas of land or the growth paradigm inherent to the model.

Industrial use of vegetable oils has doubled in the past 15 years, with palm oil being the cheapest. This massive increase of palm oil use in part explains the current expansion of industrial oil palm plantations, especially in Africa and Latin America, from the year 2000 onward, in addition to the existing vast plantations areas in Malaysia and Indonesia that also continue expanding.

On the ground, countless examples show that industrial oil palm plantations continue to be synonymous to violence and destruction for communities and forests. Communities’ experiences in the new industrial oil palm plantation frontiers, such as Gabon, Nigeria, Cameroon, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Peru, Honduras, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, are similar to past and ongoing community experiences in Indonesia and Malaysia.

RSPO creates a smokescreen that makes this violence invisible for consumers and financiers. Governments often fail to take regulatory action to stop the expansion of plantations and increasing demand of palm oil; they rely on RSPO to deliver an apparently sustainable flow of palm oil.

For example, in its public propaganda, RSPO claims it supports more than 100,000 small holders. But the profit from palm oil production is still disproportionally appropriated by the oil palm companies: in 2016, 88% of all certified palm oil came from corporate plantations and 99,6% of the production is corporate-controlled.

RSPO also claims that the principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) is key among its own Principles and Criteria. The right to FPIC implies, among others, that if a community denies the establishment of this monoculture in its territory, operations cannot be carried out. Reality shows us, however, that despite this, many projects go ahead.

Concessions are often guaranteed long before the company reaches out to the affected communities. Under these circumstances, to say that FPIC is central to RSPO is bluntly false and disrespectful.

RSPO also argues that where conflicts with the plantation companies arise, communities can always use its complaint mechanism. However, the mechanism is complex and it rarely solves the problems that communities face and want to resolve.

This becomes particularly apparent in relation to land legacy conflicts where the mechanism is biased against communities. It allows companies to continue exploiting community land until courts have come to a decision. This approach encourages companies to sit out such conflicts and count on court proceedings dragging on, often over decades.

Another argument used by RSPO is that industrial oil palm plantations have lifted millions of people out of poverty. That claim is certainly questionable, even more so considering that there is also an important number of people who have been displaced over the past decades to make space for plantations.

Indigenous communities have in fact lost their fertile land, forests and rivers to oil palm plantations, adversely affecting their food, culture and local economies.

The RSPO promise of “transformation” has turned into a powerful greenwashing tool for corporations in the palm oil industry. RSPO grants this industry, which remains responsible for violent land grabbing, environmental destruction, pollution through excessive use of agrotoxics and destruction of peasant and indigenous livelihoods, a “sustainable” image.

What’s more, RSPO membership seems to suffice for investors and companies to be able to claim that they are “responsible” actors. This greenwash is particularly stunning, since being a member does not guarantee much change on the ground. Only recently, a company became RSPO member after it was found to deforest over 27.000 hectares of rainforest in Papua, Indonesia.

Certification is structurally dependent on the very same policies and regulation that have given rise to the host of environmental devastation and community land rights violations associated with oil palm plantations. These systemic governance issues are part of the destructive economic model, and embedded in state power.

For this reason, voluntary certification schemes cannot provide adequate protection for forests, community rights, food sovereignty and guarantee sustainability. Governments and financiers need to take responsibility to stop the destructive palm oil expansion that violates the rights of local communities and Indigenous Peoples.

As immediate steps, governments need to:

• Put in place a moratorium on palm oil plantations expansion and use that as a breathing space to fix the policy frameworks;
• Drastically reduce demand for palm oil: stop using food for fuel;
• Strengthen and respect the rights of local communities and Indigenous Peoples to amongst others, self-determination and territorial control.
• Promote agro-ecology and community control of their forests, which strengthens local incomes, livelihoods and food sovereignty, instead of advancing industrial agro-businesses.

Signatures

• Aalamaram-NGOAcción Ecológica, Ecuador
• ActionAid, France
• AGAPAN
  Amics arbres
• Arbres amics
• Amis de la Terre France
• ARAARBA (Asociación para la Recuperación del Bosque Autóctono)
• Asociación Conservacionista YISKI, Costa Rica
  Asociación Gaia El Salvador
• Association Congo Actif, Paris
• Association Les Gens du Partage, Carrières-sous-Poissy
• Association pour le développement des aires protégées, Swizterland
• BASE IS
• Bézu St Eloi
• Boxberg OT Uhyst
• Bread for all
• Bruno Manser Fund
• CADDECAE, Ecuador
• Campaign to STOP GE Trees
• CAP, Center for Advocacy Practices
• Centar za životnu sredinu/ Friends of the Earth Bosnia and Herzegovina
• CESTA – FOE El Salvador
• CETRI – Centre tricontinental
• Climate Change Kenya
• Coalición de Tendencia Clasista. (CTC-VZLA)
• Colectivo de Investigación y Acompañmiento Comunitario
• Collectif pour la défense des terres malgaches – TANY, Madagascar
• Community Forest Watch, Nigeria
• Consumers Association of Penang
• Corporate Europe Observatory
• Cuttington University
• Down to Earth Consult
• El Campello
• Environmental Resources Management and Social Issue Centre (ERMSIC) Cameroon
• Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria
• FASE ES , Brazil
• Fédération romande des consommateurs
• FENEV, (Femmes Environnement nature Entrepreneuriat Vert).
• Focus on the Global South
• Forum Ökologie & Papier, Germany
• Friends of the Earth Ghana
• Friends of the Earth International
• GE Free NZ, New Zealand
• Global Alliance against REDD
• Global Justice Ecology Project
• Global Info
• Gobierno Territorial Autónomo de la Nación Wampís , Peru
• GRAIN
• Green Development Advocates (GDA)
• CameroonGreystones, Ireland
• Groupe International de Travail pour les Peuples Autochtones
  Grupo ETC
• Grupo Guayubira, Uruguay
• Instituto Mexicano de Gobernanza Medioambiental AC Instituto Mexicano de Gobernanza Medioambiental AC
• Integrated Program for the Development of the Pygmy People (PIDP), DRC
• Justica Ambiental
• Justicia Paz e Integridad de la Creacion. Costa Rica
• Kempityari
• Latin Ambiente, http://www.latinambiente.org
• Les gens du partage
• LOYOLA SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY, MANILA
• Maderas del Pueblo del Sureste, AC
• Maiouri nature, Guyane
• Mangrove Action Project
• Milieudefensie – Friends of the Earth Netherlands
• Movimento Amigos da Rua Gonçalo de Carvalho
• Muyissi Environnement, Gabon
• Nature-d-congo de la République du Congo
• New Wind Association from Finland
• NOAH-Friends of the Earth Denmark
• Oakland Institute
• OFRANEH, Honduras
• Ole Siosiomaga Society Incorporated (OLSSI)
• ONG OCEAN : Organisation Congolaise des Ecologistes et Amis de la Nature et sommes basés en RD Congo.
• OPIROMA, Brazil
• Otros Mundos A.C./Amigos de la Tierra México
• Paramo Guerrrero Zipaquira
• PROYECTO GRAN SIMIO (GAP/PGS-España)
• Quercus – ANCN, Portugal
• Radd (Reseau des Acteurs du Développement Durable) , Cameroon
• Rainforest Foundation UK
• Rainforest Relief
• ReAct – Alliances Transnationales
• RECOMA – Red latinoamericana contra los monocultivos de árboles
• Red de Coordinacion en Biodiversidad , Çosta Rica
• REFEB-Cote d’Ivoire
• Rettet den Regenwald, Germany
• ROBIN WOOD
• Sahabat Alam Malaysia (Friends of the Earth Malaysia)
• Salva la Selva
• School of Democratic Economics, Indonesia
• Serendipalm Company Limited
• Sherpa , The Netherlands
• SYNAPARCAM, Cameroon
• The Corner House, UK
  Towards Equitable Sustainable Holistic Development
• TRAFFED KIVU ,RD. CONGOUNIÓN UNIVERSAL DESARROLLO SOLIDARIO
  University of Sussex, UK
• UTB ColombiaWatch Indonesia!
• WESSA
  World Rainforest Movement
• Youth Volunteers for the Environment Ghana

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Certification is a weak tool to address global forest and ecosystem destruction.
By improving the image of forest and ecosystem risk commodities and so stimulating demand, certification risks actually increasing the harm caused by the expansion of commodity production.
Certification schemes end up greenwashing products linked to deforestation, ecosystem destruction and rights abuses.

Greenpeace: destruction certified

We find positive effects on prices and income from sale of certified products. However, we find no change in overall household income and assets for workers. The wages for workers are not higher in certified production.

Oya, C., Schaefer, F. & Skalidou, D. The effectiveness of agricultural certification in developing countries: a systematic review. World Dev. 112, 282–312 (2018).

We find that, while sustainability standards can help improve the sustainability of production processes in certain situations, they are insufficient to ensure food system sustainability at scale, nor do they advance equity objectives in agrifood supply chains.

Meemken, EM., Barrett, C.B., Michelson, H.C. et al. Sustainability standards in global agrifood supply chains. Nat Food (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00360-3

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Join the #Boycott4Wildlife and fight deforestation and greenwashing by using your wallet as a weapon!

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Further reading on palm oil ecocide, greenwashing and deceptive marketing

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Contribute to my Ko-Fi

Did you enjoy visiting this website?

Palm Oil Detectives is 100% self-funded

Palm Oil Detectives is completely self-funded by its creator. All hosting and website fees and investigations into brands are self-funded by the creator of this online movement. If you like what I am doing, you and would like me to help meet costs, please send Palm Oil Detectives a thanks on Ko-Fi.

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#advertising #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4wildlife #BoycottPalmOil #brandBoycotts #branding #consumerRights #Fightgreenwashing #FightgreenwashingTweet #greenwashing #OrangutanLandTrust #palmoil #RSPO #RSPOGreenwashing

It was never true that plastics were subject to recycling

#plasticwaste
#recyclingfail
#FightGreenwashing

https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/jul/17/shell-recycling-plastic-pledge