sinar mas

This blog first appeared on Ethical Corporation.

Last week saw Sinar Mas, one of the largest conglomerates in Indonesia, come to London for a press conference to try and turn the tables on two years of Greenpeace investigations into their deforestation practices.

The palm oil producer came to explain that they are a responsible company, that they don't destroy rainforests and how the likes of Unilever, Nestlé and Kraft had been mistaken to suspend them from their supply chains.

They claimed a new 'verification exercise' would prove Greenpeace has got it wrong.

An important fact about the Sinar Mas group: it is destroying carbon-rich rainforests and peatlands in Indonesia, including endangered wildlife habitat.

If you take away one thing from this post, that's the most important.

Today, the notorious forest destroyer tried to clear its name as it released an audit it commissioned to examine Greenpeace investigations of its oil palm plantations. Ironically, the audit confirms that Sinar Mas has been clearing forests and peatland, but rather than acknowledging this Sinar Mas is trying to hide the audit through a greenwash exercise.

Laura from our international office updates on what's been going on since Nestlé's Facebook page went into meltdown.

"Social media: as you can see, we're learning as we go. Thanks for the comments." On 19 March, that was the status message on Nestlé's Facebook fan page - which had already been under siege for three days. The message didn't stay up there for long but it was obviously in recognition of the page administrator's poor handling of the comments and criticisms that had been streaming in since the launch of our KitKat ad spoof.

Those of us following social media/marketing blogs know what happened to Nestlé's online reputation - it quickly became synonomous with words like: "disaster", "kitkatastrophe", "nightmare", "meltdown" and so on. But what did all of those Facebook comments do for Indonesia's rainforests?

Guest blogger Laura Kenyon from our international office reveals the latest evidence we've collected showing how Sinar Mas breaking its own commitments on protecting rainforests and peatlands.

The short answer: not likely.

In fact, not only will they not be likely to come 'clean', but today we are releasing fresh evidence that Sinar Mas's notorious forest-destroying practices continue unabated and in direct violation of the company's own environmental commitments on protecting forests and peatlands.

Wahey, you've scored another victory! After receiving nearly 10,000 emails (and seeing some excellent spoof adverts), HSBC has sold its shares in Sinar Mas, one of the worst companies responsible for ripping up the Indonesian rainforest for palm oil and pulp plantations. It's fantastic news (as The Guardian was quick to agree) that has shone a light on the financial side of deforestation. And you made this happen - thanks!

Like orang-utans, the future of Sumatran tigers is being jeopordised by the relentless destruction of their habitat by paper giant APP

Even though we've had huge success in turning companies like Unilever, Nestlé and Kraft off palm oil produced by Sinar Mas, that only represents one part of the jigsaw and Sinar Mas is still chewing its way through Indonesia's rainforests.

Palm oil is one of two plantation products which are driving deforestation in Indonesia, paper being the other big hitter. Needless to say, Sinar Mas is up to its neck in the paper business as well and we've compiled new evidence in a report called Pulping the Planet which shows exactly how its pulp and paper operations are threatening the forests just as much as its palm oil business is.