12 August 2021
•
3 min read
(credit: Nestlé)
Consumer goods giant launches interactive platform to highlight dilemmas facing manufacturers as they work to curb environmental impacts in their supply chains
Nestlé has this week launched a new interactive tool designed to engage customers with the complex sustainability issues facing the palm oil supply chain.
The interactive video platform, called Beneath the Surface, allows viewers to directly experience some of the challenges that the firm faces as it works to source more sustainable palm oil.
Viewers are asked to make a series of decisions to try and ensure a transparent and sustainable palm oil supply chain is maintained on a global scale, with the challenges faced by players of the game highlighting the complexity of the palm oil supply chain.
In 2010, Nestlé pledged to ensure palm oil supply chains were free from deforestation, and as of December 2020 70 per cent of its purchased palm oil was assessed to be deforestation-free. Together with both smallholders and major suppliers, the company's goal is to become 100 per cent deforestation-free by 2022.
However, the company is one of a host of consumer goods companies to discover that fully eradicating deforestation from its supply chain is a hugely complex task. Forty per cent of the world's palm oil is produced by small-scale farmers, the company said, and halting procurement from smallholders could have a devastating impact on the lives and livelihoods of producers.
Nestlé's commitment is one of a number made by major brands to tackle the impact of palm oil production. A host of leading companies have pledged to only source palm oil that is certified as sustainable, while in 2018 supermarket Iceland removed palm oil from its entire own brand range, citing the fact that an area of Indonesian rainforest the equivalent to 146 football pitches of rainforest is cleared every hour to make way for palm oil production.
However, there is some evidence that efforts to curb the environmental impact of the palm oil supply chain are having an impact. Chain Reaction Research released a report in February suggesting deforestation in Southeast Asia now stands at just a tenth of historic highs, with 93,800 acres of deforestation associated with palm oil plantations recorded during 2020.
The arrival of Nestlé's new tool comes alongside research, commissioned by the firm, showing that almost a fifth of millennial shoppers tend to avoid purchasing products containing palm oil or will actively check to see whether a product includes the ingredient. Nearly half said they tend to avoid products containing unsustainable palm oil.
Nestlé said the Beneath the Surface platform aims to give viewers a better insight into the complexity of the palm oil supply chain and see how the choices they make under the different scenarios can lead to a range of outcomes and consequences.
Dr Emma Keller, head of sustainability for Nestlé UK & Ireland, said the new tool lets consumers "take a peek at some of the dilemmas Nestlé and many other organisations face with palm oil every day".
"We hope that by having more open conversations about the complexity of sourcing ingredients such as palm oil, people can understand the issues and make better informed decisions when choosing products," she said. "We can all play a role towards a sustainable palm oil future where it contributes to protecting and restoring nature to the benefit of people, wildlife and the planet. We are working on it and expect our consumers to continue to hold us to account."
Nestlé's research also found that more than eight out of ten people believe consuming sustainable products is important, however around one in 10 said they do not know exactly what to look for to establish if a product is sustainable.
Of those who actively check for the sustainability of the palm oil in a product, eight out of 10 search on pack for information while a quarter look on company websites, the firm found.
