‘The planet is in crisis’

Veronika, Rebecca – where does the world stand today when it comes to deforestation?

Veronika: It is a very urgent topic, because deforestation has a major impact on the people and wildlife living in the deforested areas, and it is a driver for climate change, which we are all experiencing now, worldwide. The recent Covid-19 crisis also emphasized the importance of fighting this issue, especially in high risk areas such as South America or South-East Asia.
Rebecca: The planet is in crisis, and we urgently need to take decisive action to restore its health. As a business, and through our Unilever brands, we have a responsibility to play our part. We take this very seriously and want to use our purchasing power to drive transformation– through partnerships, advocacy and committed work on the ground.

Why is this topic on the agenda of METRO and Unilever?

Veronika: We are connected to deforestation, since we purchase and sell products that can contain ingredients that might have caused it – for instance products with palm oil or soy in it, or paper from cut down trees. This is why we aim for transparency about ingredients and their origin, for example to only sell sustainable palm oil until end of 2020.
Rebecca: As a significant buyer of palm oil, as well as of other commodities associated with a risk of deforestation, we have a responsibility to take action. We have a target to have a deforestation free supply chain by 2023. To do this, Unilever is focusing our energy on three key areas: traceability and transparency through digital technologies such as satellite monitoring; secondly, accelerating smallholder inclusion, for instance with agronomic training programs; and third, our changed approach to derivates sourcing.

You both mentioned palm oil, which is the subject of controversial discussions. What is your opinion about it?

Veronika: Palm oil is a very valuable ingredient – if sustainably sourced, and not causing deforestation. It is not as simple as ‘palm is bad and other oils are good’. We need to work together in the chain to make sure we use the right land, and to make sure all included farmers are paid well to prevent deforestation. This is why we focus on using sustainably produced palm oil instead of prohibiting it in our products. We are responsible to transform this industry.
Rebecca: Palm oil is one of the most land-efficient vegetable oils available. To get the same amount of oil from soybeans, you’d need seven times more farmland compared to oil palms. Also, the production of palm requires less energy, as well as fewer fertilizers and pesticides. The challenges with palm oil are around how it’s sourced, not the crop itself. That is why we have committed to source 100% of it sustainably. In 2019, 99.6% of our palm oil was sourced sustainably against the target set out in our Sustainable Living Plan, and this continues to be a top priority for us.

Is there any advice for restaurateurs, hoteliers and caterers?

Veronika: To ask their meat and fish suppliers – do they know with what ingredients the animals were fed? Where does the soy in the animal feed come from, is it deforestation free? Our customers can check the origin of meat products with the METRO app ‘ProTrace’. To make use of the information we provide on topics such as deforestation, explaining why it is critical, and suggesting alternatives to reach out to their customers. But it is a topic that is not always very direct on consumers’ minds. It is the whole supply chain that needs to bring about the big change.

So what are Unilever’s and METRO’s concrete actions to push that change?

Rebecca: A critical path to ending deforestation is to drive greater transparency and traceability. We are already achieving this in several ways. One example is palm. We’ve invested in a major oleochemical plant in North Sumatra to process palm oil. Here, we work with the Indonesian government-owned plantation company, PT Perkebunan Nusantara (PTPN), to support local mills and smallholder farmers to produce sustainable palm oil. Through Unilever’s involvement, 29 out of PTPN’s 40 mills have already been certified. We are also developing and deploying technologies that we believe hold the potential to radically transform supply chain transparency. We are building a digital ecosystem with a number of technology partners, which provides us with a clearer picture of where our harvested crops are coming from and helps us monitor deforestation risks in our supply chain. For instance, our partnership with Orbital Insight, a US tech company that specialises in geospatial analytics, helps us identify the individual farms and plantations that are most likely to be supplying the palm oil mills in our extended supply chain. We also continue our work to support training for smallholder farmers. They account for 40 % of all production, which means if we do not include smallholders and bring them along with us, we will not be able to end the issues associated with the industry.
Veronika: We have policies on palm oil, soy, paper and wood and an upcoming policy on meat, which all touch the topic of deforestation. To implement these policies and work towards ‘zero deforestation’, we engage with our suppliers to discuss with them how for instance to move to sustainable soy in their animal feed, to ask their suppliers for this, or to look for alternatives. We certainly cannot tackle deforestation alone, which is why we are also involved in alliances like the Consumer Goods Forum Forest Positive Coalition of Action or the Cerrado Manifesto Statement of Support Group.