| Selected stories from Issue 110: |
Palm Oil - cooking the climate
Kit Kats and Pringles feature in Greenpeace's new report about the impact of the
palm oil industry on rainforests and peatlands in Indonesia.
Nestle, Proctor & Gamble, and Unilever are sourcing their palm oil from suppliers who aren't picky
about where they site their planatations. That's despite being members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).
The RSPO is set to announce a sustainable palm oil certification scheme, but Lush Cosmeticvs have decided to wash their hands of the industry altogether. They decided that the RSPO scheme is unlikely to be more than Greenwash.
Meanwhile Sainsburys has said it will stop using palm oil from unsustainable sources in it's own products. Both Asda and Body Shop are to cut their use of palm oil from such sources.
The Grreenpeace report is available here
Abel & Cole
The UK's largest organic food delivery business has sold a stake to private equity firm Phoenix. Formed in 1988 selling potatoes door-to-door in London, Abel & Cole has dropped several points in our ratings as a result.
Phoenix has a stake in one company accused of worker rights violations in China,
and also in Gaucho Grill's restaurants which have foie gras, unsustainable fish and non-free range or organic meat on the menu.
Hamnett cuts ties with Tesco
Clother designer Katherine Hamnett is cutting her ties with Tesco in a row over ethics.
"I was initially excited about the tie-up because I thought we could increase demand for ethical products. But I've come to the conclusion that [Tesco] simply wants to appear ethical, rather than make a full committment to the range. Choose Love is only available in 40 stores and the merchandising is practically non-existent."
The decision was welcomed by War on Want. Their 'Lets Clean Up Fashion' report with Labour Behind The Label, branded Tesco's progress toward a living wage for it's garment employees as 'disappointingly slow'.
Download the report here.
Labour Rights Activists Gagged
FFI, a company producing garments in India, is using legal action to
silence organisations in Holland and India which are speaking out about
severe labour rights violations. Critics are under threat of arrest
and
imprisonment.
FFI factories produced jeans for companies including G-Star (the largest buyer and a key player in the dispute), Armani, RaRe, Guess, Gap and Mexx. However, by December 6th, international pressure had persuaded all these international brands to withdraw future orders from the factory. The arrest warrants however still stand.
Campaigners are now keeping up pressure on G-Star and asking it to adopt a socially responsible exit strategy - see the Clean Clothes Website for more.
Cotton-picking Children
A report by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) reveals shocking conditions endured by more than one million children - some as young as five - in the world's largest cotton producing countries.
These include working 12 hour days in extremes of hot and cold weather, physical, verbal and sexual abuse, and being used to spray pesticides which pose serious health risks.
China, India, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Brazil and Turkey have all been reported. EJF is urging retailers and manufacturers to excamine their supply chains in the £20bn a year industry.
Download the report from the EJF website.
