• Reuters, Friday, May 2, 2008 10:15 AM

Following protests across Europe last month, Unilever says it will start buying palm oil from certified sustainable sources and aims to have all its palm oil certified by 2015.

Greenpeace says the peatland forests of Indonesia--one of the last remaining habitats of the orangutan--are being damaged to provide palm oil, an ingredient in foods and soaps. "Other companies like Nestle and Procter & Gamble now need to join forces with Unilever to exert real pressure on the ground," says Greenpeace forest campaigner Tim Birch.

Unilever says it started working on sustainable palm oil 10 years ago by developing its own guidelines with growers and suppliers. "Now we need to take the next step," says Unilever CEO Patrick Cescau. "Suppliers need to move to meet the criteria, by getting certified both the palm oil from their own plantations and the palm oil they buy from elsewhere."

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