PepsiCo and Nestlé have ended business with IndoFood Group as human rights abuses have come to light. Nestlé announced the end of its partnering with the group last month and PepsiCo also recently confirmed its stance to not source its palm oil from the company’s subsidiary IndoAgri due to its links to deforestation and human rights violations.
“Over the last months, we have engaged with our direct suppliers to ensure that they suspend any sourcing of palm oil from IndoAgri. We will review this decision on a regular basis, taking into consideration developments in the RSPO [Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil] complaint process and actions taken by IndoAgri,” said a spokesperson for PepsiCo.
Nestlé has stated that by 2020 the company aims to be fully committed to using only 100 percent responsibly sourced palm oil.
“As part of its accelerated value creation model, Nestlé is continuously reviewing its business portfolio, and with PT Indofood CBP Sukses Makmur Tbk (ICBP), have agreed to end their joint venture,” said a spokesperson for Nestlé.
Following the severing of ties with IndoFood Group, both companies have received praise for the actions taken in support of sustainable and responsibly produced palm oil.
“PepsiCo made the right decision, but there is still a lot more work to be done to guarantee that its supply chain is free from human rights abuses and rainforest destruction,” said Fatah Sadoui, campaigns manager, SumOfUs.
“This is a strong move by Nestlé. Indofood has been caught red-handed exploiting its workers and violating Indonesian law numerous times over the past years. The fact that so many companies are moving ahead of the RSPO should be a loud wake-up call to the certifier that it cannot continue to certify Indofood’s labour abuses as ‘sustainable’,” said Robin Averbeck, agribusiness campaign director, RAN.
