Campaigns to transform the palm oil industry are having clear success on many fronts:
Over twenty companies worldwide, including Unilever, Cargill, Wilmar, and Pepsico, have adopted sustainable palm oil policies of varying strengths in the past few years alone; Singapore is poised to pass a groundbreaking law to hold companies accountable for burning rain forest in nearby Sumatra; In Honduras, the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation is increasingly under fire for failing…
The U.S may be home to the largest recoverable coal reserves in the world, but if the federal government follows through with plans to extract them at home and send them overseas, it will undermine President Obama’s Climate Action Plan and ensure catastrophic climate disruption. To illustrate, the Bureau of Land Management estimates that 16.9 billion metric tons of carbon emissions will be released if the proposed 28 new leases in the Buffalo, Wyoming,…
It’s a dynamic moment in the world of palm oil.
Where, just a few years ago, not more than a handful of consumer companies showed concern over the overwhelming environmental and social costs of palm oil plantations, in the last two years alone over twenty companies, including Unilever, Cargill, Wilmar, and Pepsico, have adopted sustainable palm oil policies of varying strengths.
If implemented in good faith, these commitments will bring positive change to the…
Earlier this month, billionaire siblings Charles and David Koch made it publicly clear that they hate subsidies of all kinds -- even the ones they benefit from as oil producers. Although it is refreshing to hear that even oilmen are now against oil subsidies, it would be even more refreshing if the Kochs were willing to lead by example -- that is, if the Kochs were willing to return their share of the billions that…
July 21, 2014, marked the close of the Department of Energy’s comment period for its proposed changes to liquefied natural gas export decision-making procedures. Along with the Sierra Club and the Americans Against Fracking coalition, Friends of the Earth submitted public comments requesting that DOE correct flaws in the environmental and economic analyses that it relies on when determining whether proposed liquefied natural gas export projects are in the public interest.
Cargill, the largest importer of palm oil into the United States, announced today a new palm oil sustainability policy, in response to years of campaigning by civil society groups. This policy adds to the mounting list of similar policies by consumer companies, including many of Cargill’s customers such as Nestlé, Unilever, General Mills, Mondel?z, Kellogg, Safeway, Hershey, Mars and Procter & Gamble.
Our colleagues at Rainforest Action Network, who have campaigned on Cargill for years,…
It is estimated that almost 22 million people will take a cruise in 2014. While the cruise industry has made a commitment to protect the marine ecosystems and the unique communities they visit, there remains plenty of room for improvement. To hold cruise lines accountable, Friends of the Earth produces an annual Cruise Ship Report Card grading the lines on their environmental and human health impacts.
If you are planning to explore the oceans…
Earlier this month, Liberian peasant farmer and activist Elder Chio Johnson stood frustrated before the locked iron gates enclosing the regional offices of two big palm oil companies, Equatorial Palm Oil and Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad, in Grand Bassa County, Liberia.
"They refuse to talk to us about our land business. Are we not people?” he asked.
Along with many members of his clan, Johnson had come to deliver 90,000 signatures -- many collected by Friends of…
Take action: Click here to tell President Obama to keep fossil fuels in the ground!
The Obama administration has an environmental identity crisis. On the one hand, it has pledged to reduce domestic greenhouse gas emissions in order to leave future generations a planet that is not polluted and damaged. On the other hand, it has initiated the 2017-2022 planning process for offshore oil and gas exploration and drilling on the nation’s Outer Continental…
Last week, the House passed the FY15 Energy and Water Appropriations Act, which funds the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons and power programs. In response, the Office of Management and Budget issued a Statement of Administrative Policy suggesting the president would veto the bill if it were presented to him based on a number of provisions including the House bill’s funding for the Mixed Oxide Plutonium Fuel Program, often called MOX, and Yucca…