Greenpeace has accused massive international firms of contributing to species loss and deforestation in Indonesia. Companies such as Walmart, Tesco and Carrefour were slammed by the environmental organisation on Tuesday for buying palm oil and paper from global giant Sinar Mas.
Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), a subsidiary of Sinar Mas, was said to be “relentlessly trashing rainforests”, driving species into extinction and releasing carbon into the atmosphere in the Southeast Asian country. Greenpeace added that Sinar Mas’s sustainability commitments are not worth the paper they are written on, and expressed shock that some of the world’s best known brands are buying products from them.
In a statement released by Greenpeace Southeast Asia forest campaigner Bustar Maitar, the multinational corporation was accused of “pulping the planet”, and the companies that buy from it of complicit and rampant destruction of the rainforests and carbon-rich peatlands in Indonesia.
The companies named and shamed by Greenpeace include WH Smith, Walmart, Tesco, Hewlett Packard, KFC, Carrefour and Auchan. National Geographic was also named as a magazine publisher that uses the company’s paper, along with Cosmo Girl, Marie Claire, Elle, Esquire and CNN Traveller.
As well as producing paper products, it is also believed that Sinar Mars uses unsustainable logging practices to clear land for palm oil plantations. Such plantations are seen as a major threat to biodiversity in Indonesia.
According to Greenpeace, buyers of Sinar Mas’s palm oil include Burger King, Pizza Hut, Dunkin Donuts and Campbell’s Soup. Environmental lobbyists have urged all businesses buying products from APP and Sinar Mas to cut off orders immediately.
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