Paris, France – The Palm Oil Innovation Group (POIG) acknowledges the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) decision to suspend membership of Nestlé due to breaches of the RSPO Code of Conduct for not submitting a time-bound plan in its annual reports.

The members of the Palm Oil Innovation Group issued the following statement:

“Whilst decisions to hold RSPO members to account are much-needed, the RSPO should focus enforcement efforts on sanctioning non-compliant members destroying forests and committing human rights violations. Major consumers of palm oil such as Nestlé should avoid misleading communications to the market. Instead companies need to invest in the much-needed transformation of the palm oil sector by achieving third-party verification of their supply chains instead of second-party alternatives that lack the independence, oversight and transparency provided by certification systems and the Palm Oil Innovation Group. POIG includes RSPO members and builds upon its standards to produce verified responsible palm oil.” said Gemma Tillack, spokesperson from Rainforest Action Network.

“The Palm Oil Innovation Group and its members have shown that RSPO-certified members can uphold their RSPO membership requirements and go beyond them to address deforestation and the social and environmental impacts of conventional palm oil production.” said Felipe Guerrero, spokesperson from Daabon.

To download the full statement click here.