Nestle extends satellite monitoring in bid to combat deforestation

Confectionery giant Nestlé will draw on an expanded satellite monitoring tool in a bid to eliminate deforestation from its palm oil supply chain, the company has announced.

The Starling satellite monitoring service covers palm oil producing regions worldwide, including 100 per cent of Nestlé's palm oil supply chain. The product of a collaboration between Airbus and the Earthworm Foundation, the technology enables Nestlé and other firms to monitor their supply chain on a regular basis, and so take swift action to address any forest loss observed.

Nestlé is among more than 350 private sector firms that have committed to eliminate deforestation from their supply chains by 2020, in line with high profile collective commitments such as the Consumer Goods Forum and the New York Decleration on Forests. 

However, a report released on International Forest Day in March by the NGO Global Canopy concluded that none of the firms it assessed are on track to meet their commitments. Last year, Greenpeace labelled Nestle's commitments to monitor its supply chains "inadequate".

Since launching in 2015, Starling has monitored supply chains across the world, from palm oil in Indonesia, to cocoa in Ghana, to pulp-and-paper in Russia. It works to equip companies like Nestlé with information to guide their purchasing decisions, helping them engage with their partner companies to eliminate deforestation.

"We are supportive of the action that Nestlé is taking to address deforestation and congratulate them on the progress to date," said Bastien Sachet, Earthworm Foundation's CEO. "But one single company cannot solve deforestation on its own: we need more companies acting on accurate deforestation information, working together with each other and key stakeholders in the supply chains to maximise the impact we can have on conserving our precious tropical forests."

In related news, cleaning products manufacturer SC Johnson has affirmed its commitment to source 100 per cent of its raw materials from sustainably managed forests, with the aim of achieving net zero deforestation by 2020.

Also this week, confectionary giant Mondelez announced action to increase the proportion of sustainably sourced cocoa in its supply chain, by stepping up the amount of the raw material it sources through its Cocoa Life program.

Currently, the confectionery giant sources 43 per cent of the cocoa for chocolate brands such as Cadbury's and Milka through the program, which provides educational and financial support to cocoa farmers. The firm this week pledged to raise that share to 100 per cent by 2025.

However, despite the growing wave of coporate pledges to tackle forst loss fears remain that global deforestation rates remain stubbornly high. A report published this week by the NGO Global Forest Watch found that the world lost an area of primary rainforest the size of Belgium last year.