Archived press release

Cadbury's Shareholders Find Palm Oil Leaves a Bitter Taste

21 May 2004

Cadbury Schweppes' shareholders will be left with a bitter taste in their mouth today (Friday 21st May) when they are met by Friends of the Earth campaigners handing out chocolate bars outside the annual general meeting (AGM) at the QE2 Conference Centre in London. The chocolate bars, made by the international confectionary giant Cadbury, will have been re-labelled to highlight the damaging impact of palm oil, a hidden ingredient in many confectionary products [1].

Friends of the Earth will be joined outside the meeting by representatives from organisations who work with palm oil communities in South East Asia, who have travelled to London to highlight their concerns about the impacts of palm oil plantations on local people and their environment [2].

Palm oil is a cheap source of vegetable fat which is used to extend the shelf-life of Cadbury's chocolate. It is grown on monocrop plantations in South East Asia, and demand for the crop has led to rainforest destruction, pollution problems and conflicts with local communities. Plantation workers are often poorly paid, with workers often forced to enlist the help of their entire family to meet production targets [3].

Although Cadbury Schweppes has an "Ethical Trading Policy", it fails to address forest or community issues. Friends of the Earth is calling on the company to broaden its policy to ensure that none of its suppliers are responsible for clearing rainforest for palm oil, to ensure that suppliers consult fully with local communities about the impact of plantations, and to ensure that the rights of workers are respected.

Friends of the Earth is also calling on the British Government to introduce corporate accountability legislation here in the UK to ensure that British companies abroad are made accountable for their environmental and social impacts [4].

Friends of the Earth palm oil campaigner Robin Webster said:

"This hidden ingredient in Cadbury's chocolate is destroying the environment, oppressing people and damaging communities on the other side of the world. It's encouraging to see that Cadbury has made a few steps towards ensuring they are not connected to such abuses - but as self-styled `leaders in Corporate Social Responsibility', the company must go further. In the end, the answer must be legislation that would require all companies trading in palm oil to take their responsibilities seriously."

Notes

[1] The labels will read:

Ingredients: PALM OIL (vegetable oil produced on tropical estate plantations). 48 per cent of Indonesian and Malaysian plantations established on forestland, leading to major deforestation in Indonesia and East Malaysia. Labour rights conflicts, 25 pesticides used on plantations, forest fires, wages below minimum wage, land stolen from local communities. Where produced for UK and Ireland: source probably Malaysia. Where produced for markets elsewhere: source unknown.
WARNING: May contain traces of deforestation and exploitation.

[2] Abetnego Tarigan, who works with communities as part of the Indonesian organisation SawitWatch (Palm Oil Watch), Safaruddin Siregar, who works with palm oil communities through Friends of the Earth's partner organisation in North Sumatra, and Lester Seri, a biologist from Papua New Guinea will be outside Cadbury Schweppes' AGM at the QEII Conference Centre in London.

[3] A full briefing on the Cadbury Schweppes and palm oil is available from Friends of the Earth. A report on the damage is available from www.foe.co.uk/resource/reports/greasy_palms_summary.pdf (PDF†)

[4] The CORE Coalition is campaigning for changes to UK company law so that financial obligations are counterbalanced by social and environmental concerns. Specifically, the Government must introduce:

• Mandatory reporting - requiring all UK companies to report annually on the impact of their operations, policies, products and procurement practices on people and the environment both in the UK and abroad
• New legal duties on directors - to take reasonable steps to reduce any significant negative social or environmental impacts
• Foreign direct liability - to enable affected communities abroad to seek redress in the UK for human rights and environmental abuses resulting directly from the operations, policies, products and procurement practices of UK companies or their overseas subsidiaries.

See: www.corporate-responsibility.org

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust