Nestlé has announced that it will utilise the Starling satellite monitoring service, developed by Airbus and The Forest Trust, in an attempt to stop deforestation in its palm oil supply chain.
According to Nestlé, the service will monitor 100% of its global palm oil supply chain, as Starling uses Airbus’s SPOT 6 and SPOT 7 satellites to produce high-resolution radar and satellite imagery to provide year-round monitoring of land cover changes and forest cover disturbances.
The move forms part of the company’s No Deforestation pledge, which aims to eradicate deforestation across its global supply chain by 2020. In 2017, 63% of Nestlé global supply chain was deforestation-free.
Earlier this year, Nestlé made a commitment to achieve 100% RSPO certified sustainable palm oil by 2023.
Magdi Batato, executive vice-president and head of operations at Nestlé S.A. said: “Nestlé has always been committed to source the raw materials we need to make our products in a responsible manner.
“In 2010, we made a No Deforestation commitment stating that all our products globally will not be associated with deforestation by 2020.
“In order to accelerate this journey, we have worked with Airbus and TFT since mid-2016 to embark on a pilot project over the Perak landscape in Malaysia.
“Starling satellite monitoring is a game changer to achieve transparency in our supply chain and we are pleased to extend this collaboration to cover 100% of Nestlé’s global palm oil supply chains by the end of the year.
“We will also extend this program to cover our pulp and paper supply chains next year as well as soya at a later stage.”
Benjamin Ware, global head of responsible sourcing at Nestlé S.A added: “Our ‘eyes in the sky’ will monitor our palm oil supply chain 24/7, regardless of their certification status.
“This will enable us to further disclose publicly what we find, where we choose to suspend non-compliant suppliers, and where we choose to engage and improve the situation.
“This will come with a request to suppliers to share their concession information, and work within the value chain with our partners to improve based on non-disputable evidences.
“This information along with our progress reports will be shared with our stakeholders, including consumers, investors and retailers.
“They will be made available in our Transparency Dashboard to be published on our website by 1 March 2019.”
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