Field report: PepsiCo and Slavery-Free Palm Oil

Goal:

While we and our partner, Rainforest Action Network, commends PepsiCo for making a public commitment against forced labor in its supply chain, we call on the company to commit to 100% independent traceability of all use of palm oil

Summary:

Considering reports of forced labor in Malaysia and Indonesia, there was an urgent need for immediate enforcement, monitoring and independent verification at all levels of PepsiCo’s palm oil supply chain. We asked our advocates to petition PepsiCo to stand up against modern slavery in the palm oil industry.

The majority of global palm oil comes from plantations in Malaysia and Indonesia, where journalists and workers’ rights organizations have documented widespread exploitation. Workers are often trafficked into bonded labor, forced to live and work under extreme conditions with limited legal recourse, and suffer from physical or threatened abuse. Child labor is also known to be a problem within palm oil plantations.

Outcome:

A total of 44,689 advocates called on PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi to pledge to exclusively and immediately use slavery-free palm oil. In January 2018, PepsiCo partially suspended procurement with one of their palm oil suppliers following child labor allegations on Indonesian plantations. Read the story here. 

Note:

Companies like PepsiCo, one of the world’s largest snack food and beverage companies, make extensive use of palm oil in their products, but do not always know the conditions in which it is grown and harvested. Learn more by reading this article: Empty Assurances: The human cost of palm oil

Our partner in this campaign:

Eko

Ekō is a new world-wide movement for a better global economy. Here’s what they stand for: Governments that answer to citizens – not corporations. Fair treatment of workers and the right of every human being to make a living, safely and ethically, for themselves and their family. The right of ordinary consumers to products that are produced and marketed ethically, sustainably, and transparently. The right of communities to manage and protect their own environment and natural resources. Business models that put people and the planet first instead of being driven by shortsighted greed.

Rainforest Action Network

Rainforest Action Network campaigns for the forests, their inhabitants and the natural systems that sustain life by transforming the global marketplace through education, grassroots organizing, and non-violent direct action. Their current campaigns span the globe, from fighting the dirty fossil fuel industry and the banks that fund it in the U.S. to protecting rainforests in Indonesia and Ecuador.