Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

Food companies urge Britain to adopt tougher rules to protect tropical forests

Published 10/04/2020, 08:23 PM
Updated 10/04/2020, 08:25 PM
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A mini tractor grabber collects palm oil fruits at a plantation in Pulau Carey

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A mini tractor grabber collects palm oil fruits at a plantation in Pulau Carey

By Matthew Green

LONDON (Reuters) - Supermarkets, food manufacturers and restaurant chains under pressure from campaigners over their environmental impact urged Britain on Monday to strengthen a plan to stop tropical forests from being cut down to grow cocoa, palm oil and soy.

With the food industry under growing scrutiny for its role in driving deforestation in countries such as Brazil and Indonesia, Britain is drawing up legislation to force the sector to tighten oversight of its supply chains.

In an open letter https://www.retailsoygroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Letter-on-due-diligence-consultation_final.pdf, some 20 large companies welcomed the plans as a "step forward" but said "it's not currently envisioned to be enough to halt deforestation and we encourage the government to go further to ... address this issue."

Signatories included supermarkets Tesco (L:TSCO), Marks & Spencer (L:MKS), Morrison's (L:MRW) and Sainsbury 's (L:SBRY), food manufacturers Unilever (AS:UNA), Nestle (S:NESN) and Greencore Group (L:GNC), McDonald's Corp (N:MCD) and various livestock producers.

Britain's move to introduce legal penalties for companies found to be complicit in deforestation aims to improve upon a range of voluntary, industry-led initiatives that have faced widespread criticism from environmental groups.

Companies say they would prefer clear direction from governments that would create standard rules rather than navigating the existing maze of voluntary intiatives.

Under the proposed legislation, large companies would have to report on how they source tropical commodities. The companies would also be banned from using products that are harvested illegally in their country of origin.

But the supermarkets and food companies who signed the letter say the proposed new law has a major loophole: farmers in developing countries can often clear forests to grow cash crops for export without breaking any laws.

The companies want the new British rules to apply to all deforestation - not just in cases where the destruction is illegal.

"The proposed legislation would continue to allow rampant deforestation in hotspots such as Indonesia and Brazil," said Robin Willoughby, UK director of campaign group Mighty Earth.

Companies are also concerned that the legislation would not apply to smaller firms who may import considerable amounts of products, such as rubber, from sensitive forest regions.

Cyril Kormos, executive director of Wild Heritage, a nonprofit based in Berkeley, California, said a more comprehensive overhaul of forest management rules globally would be needed to reverse the loss of old-growth forests, whose stores of carbon form bastions to slow climate change.    

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A mini tractor grabber collects palm oil fruits at a plantation in Pulau Carey

"Deforestation pledges only go so far," Kormos said. "We need an equivalent focus on ending degradation of primary forests."

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.