http://e-info.org.tw/node/114863
大馬IOI集團涉毀林 遭跨國企業取消棕櫚油訂單
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作者：達邦樹 • 無聲的吶喊
因涉及印尼森林破壞，馬來西亞第二大棕櫚油生產公司IOI集團遭到棕櫚油永續發展圓桌會議（RSPO）終止認證資格；更在4月4日終止令生效前，不約而同地收到全球三大食品與消費品公司的通知，取消與IOI集團的棕櫚油供應合約。
棕櫚油廣泛用於食品、清潔產品。圖片來源：Finnwatch ry（CC BY-NC 2.0）。
根據新加坡《海峽時報》（The Straits Times）報導指出，取消與IOI集團棕櫚油供應合約的品牌包括多芬（Dove）香皂、M&M牛奶巧克力和家樂氏（Kellogg's）玉米片。
聯合利華（Unilever），一家擁有超過400個世界知名食品、飲料、清潔劑和個人護理產品的上市公司（如多芬），基於IOI集團破壞印尼森林的證據確鑿，也在本月初宣布取消與IOI集團棕櫚油供應合約。
此外，美國的食品生產巨頭Mars（M&M品牌）和家樂氏也聲稱，目前正與IOI集團旗下的製油公司Loders Croklaan進行合約解除程序。據知，其解除合作的包括位於馬來西亞和荷蘭的棕櫚油精煉廠。
IOI集團是馬來西亞第二大、世界十大之內的棕櫚油生產集團。棕櫚油的用途廣泛，普遍用於食品和產品——從餅乾到雪糕，從肥皂到美容產品。
棕櫚油永續發展圓桌會議（Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil，簡稱RSPO）表示，IOI集團的認證終止令從本月4日起生效。IOI集團遭終止RSPO認證，即表示將停止其永續認證棕櫚油產品的生產和銷售。過去，IOI集團也曾被非政府組織投訴而被終止RSPO認證長達兩年。
RSPO是在接到荷蘭非政府組織的投報，指IOI集團子公司在西加里曼丹涉及森林開伐及與當地社群發生衝突，展開了長達一年的調查。IOI集團首席執行員就RSPO認證被終止一事發表文告，表示這是很嚴重的事情，該集團正著手進行修復措施「以檢討和強化可持續性進程。」
豐隆研究分析員Ivy Ng表示，這是有關品牌名譽和消費者認知，食品與消費品公司沒有選擇，只能與IOI集團撇清關係。
「這一終止認證對IOI集團的下游業務有著一定的影響，同時對其名譽影響亦是難以估計。」
綠色和平組織（Greenpeace）印尼分會負責人赫馬瓦提（Annisa Rahmawati）表示，「各非政府組織在過去八年進行調查，發現IOI集團在西加里曼丹破壞森林泥炭地和猩猩的棲身地，IOI集團有很多機會可改善，但卻也反复的重複發生，甚至導致林火和煙霾問題。」
※ 本文轉載自達邦樹 • 無聲的吶喊
【相關文章】
【參考資料】
- The Straits Times（2016年4月7日），3 global giants drop Malaysian palm oil supplier over deforestation
3 global giants drop Malaysian palm oil supplier over deforestation
Three of the world's top food and consumer goods companies that make Dove soap, M&M's and Kellogg's Corn Flakes have dropped a leading Malaysian palm oil producer because of deforestation in its plantations in Indonesia.
Unilever, which owns over 400 brands including Dove, announced last week that it has begun cancelling its supplier agreements with palm oil producer and trader IOI Group over evidence of bad environmental practices in Indonesia.
IOI is Malaysia's No. 2 palm oil company by production and a top 10-listed global palm oil firm. Unilever is one of the world's top buyers of palm and palm kernel oil and refined products.
United States food giants Mars and Kellogg's have also announced that they are in the process of removing IOI as a supplier by progressively dropping contracts with IOI's refining subsidiary IOI Loders Croklaan, which has refineries in Malaysia and Holland.
Palm and palm kernel oil are used in most common foods and products - from cookies and ice cream to soaps and cosmetics.
Many major food and consumer product firms have pledged to ensure that their supplies are sourced from companies that do not contribute to the destruction of rainforests, fires or conflicts with local villagers, and have been applying greater pressure on plantation companies to comply.
Unilever said last Thursday that it made the decision after IOI was suspended last week from the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a group of planters, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and consumers that sets standards for the global palm oil sector.
The RSPO said it suspended IOI's certification for non-compliance with rules. The suspension took effect on Monday.
The decision follows a year-long investigation under the RSPO's complaints process. Last year, a Dutch NGO lodged a complaint with the RSPO, accusing IOI of causing deforestation and community conflicts at its subsidiary's concessions in West Kalimantan.
"It's all about brand reputation and customer perception. They have no choice but to start disengaging from IOI," plantation company analyst Ivy Ng of CIMB told The Straits Times.
IOI Group chief executive officer Lee Yeow Chor said in a statement last Thursday that the company regarded the RSPO suspension as a "very serious matter and (it) has given rise to new challenges for us". He said IOI has since taken corrective action "to review and enhance our sustainability practices".
The decision to drop IOI is likely to hurt the Malaysian firm. Plantations and its large refining and specialty chemicals subsidiary contributed to more than 80 per cent of earnings in the financial year to end-June 2014.
IOI did not respond to queries on the impact on its business and Unilever would not reveal the size of the supplier contracts with IOI, saying only that the Malaysian firm was one of its larger suppliers in Europe.
"The suspension of IOI Group's RSPO certification appears to have far-reaching impact on its downstream business that is more severe than in our earlier analysis," Ms Ng said in a research note this week. "It has also hurt the reputation of the group."
RSPO's suspension means that IOI can no longer produce certified palm products. The company has a history of complaints from NGOs.
"For the past eight years, NGOs have painstakingly documented IOI's destruction of peatland forest and orang utan habitat in West Kalimantan," Greenpeace Indonesia forest campaigner Annisa Rahmawati said in a statement last week.
"IOI has been given every opportunity to reform and has repeatedly refused to do so, even though its actions were contributing to the fire and haze crisis," she said.
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