Unilever and Walmart Announce Forest Sustainability Initiatives at the Global Climate Action Summit

Today, at the Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS) in San Francisco, USA, Unilever committed to supporting work in Sabah, Malaysia as part of the strategy to achieving a deforestation free supply chain and further reducing emissions. Unilever will help sustainably certify 60,000 hectares in Sabah, Malaysia as part of a program led by Forever Sabah, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Malaysia and PONGO Alliance. Sabah is pushing to certify 100 percent of the state’s palm oil production to Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certification by 2025. According to WWF, this will help to reduce 17 million metric tons of CO2e in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

Unilever’s commitment will:
• Look to cover 60,000 hectares with RSPO certification
• Benefit approximately 200 to 300 palm oil farmers
• Help restore two ecological corridors and two riparian reserves (area of habitat connecting wildlife population)

“At the COP 21 climate negotiations we pledged to support a jurisdictional approach of production and protection,” said Jeff Seabright, Chief Sustainability Officer for Unilever. “This means we are moving our sourcing to areas that have good forest management and work in partnership to reconcile competing, social, economic and environmental objectives. Our ultimate ambition is to help drive a sustainable palm oil industry.”

As part of their participation at GCAS, Walmart announced it is developing a platform within one of its key emission reduction initiatives, Project Gigaton, to link its suppliers who are sourcing commodities from regions with deforestation risk to create and support place-based partnerships. Walmart launched Project Gigaton last April, seeking to work with suppliers to reduce emissions from the company’s value chain by a gigaton, or one billion metric tons, by 2030.
more detail at: https://news.walmart.com/2018/09/13/unilever-and-walmart-announce-forest-sustainability-initiatives-at-the-global-climate-action-summit

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