Oil palm plantation in Indonesia IOI Corporation officially committed to what its subsidiary, palm oil trader IOI Loders Croklaan, pledged last November: it will no longer source palm oil linked…
Deforestation for soy in the Brazilian Amazon and cerrado. Data from Gibbs et al 2015, photo by Rhett A. Butler. Click image to enlarge. The moratorium on forest conversion established…
Screenshot of Wilmar's transparency dashboard Wilmar, the world's largest palm oil company, has unveiled a tool it says will help eliminate deforestation from its global supply chain. The tool is…
Clip from the SumOfUs Doritos ad. A dispute between environmentalists and PepsiCo over the food company's palm oil sourcing policy is escalating after activists released a video spoofing the Doritos…
What's in store for rainforests in the new year.
Jeff Horowitz is the Founder of Avoided Deforestation Partners and a co-producer of “Years of Living Dangerously” a Showtime climate change documentary series. Actor/Conservationist Harrison Ford doing a bit of…
PT Buana Adhitama, Indonesia , 13 November 2013. New oil palm plantation development amid evidence of recent forest clearance in PT Buana Adhitama (BAT). The area had been identified as…
Conversion of rainforest in Sabah, Malaysia for palm oil production. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. A team of researchers has identified 125 million hectares (309 million acres) of land suitable…
New oil palm plantation established on peatland outside Palangkaraya in Indonesia's Central Kalimantan Province on the island of Borneo. Photos by Rhett A. Butler Development of oil palm plantations is…
About one year ago today, I was pretty down. It was Thanksgiving night, and the Forest Heroes campaign, which I chair, had been running a big global campaign to persuade…
Deforestation in Malaysia for palm oil. Photo by Rhett Butler Singapore-based Musim Mas has established a new sustainability policy that it says will eliminate deforestation, peatlands conversion, and social conflict…
Oil palm plantation in Sabah, Malaysia. Malaysian palm oil giant Kuala Lumpur Kepong (KLK) has joined a growing list of companies committing to zero deforestation for commodity production. On Monday,…
Recent large-scale clearance of peatland forest inside a PT. Riau Andalan Pulp & Paper (PT RAPP) pulpwood concession on Pulau Pedang. © Ulet Ifansasti / Greenpeace. Asia Pacific Resources International…
Peat forest in Riau, Sumatra. Photo by Rhett A Butler. New Indonesian president Joko Widodo has ordered the Ministry of Environment and Forestry to review licenses for companies that have…
APP acacia plantation in Riau in January 2014. Photos by Rhett A. Butler. Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) appears to have enough plantation fiber to operate existing mills as well…
Lone Brazil nut tree standing in an area recently cleared for soy in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil, in 2009. Photos by Rhett A. Butler The Brazilian soy industry…
Oil palm fruit. Photos by Rhett Butler Home products giant IKEA has made a time-bound commitment for eliminating palm oil linked to deforestation and human rights abuses from its supply…
Screenshot of the mapping function of the Sustainable Palm Oil Transparency Toolkit, powered by ESRI. Click image to enlarge. A new initiative ranks the world's 25 largest publicly listed palm…
Editor's note: shortly after posting, PepsiCo's response to the campaign was added to this story. Pepsi True A campaign launched by environmental activists is killing Pepsi's launch of a new…
Excavator preparing to replant an oil palm plantation in Sumatra. Cargill will use Unmanned Aerial vehicles (UAVs) and 'solar-powered, satellite-connected remote sensor networks' to monitor compliance with its new zero…
Illegal deforestation for oil palm within the Leuser Ecosystem. Photo by Rhett Butler. Palm oil giant Musim Mas Group has suspended purchases from the PT Pati Sari mill over allegations…
Note: this is the first draft of a commentary I submitted to Yale Environment 360 last month. A final first-person version is available at A Conservationist Sees Signs of Hope…
Note: this post was originally titled "75% of world's traded palm oil now bound by zero deforestation commitments" before it became apparent that IOI's parent corporation has not signed a…
Deforestation for pulp and paper production in Indonesia. Photo by Rhett Butler. Some of the world's largest companies are making progress in disclosing and addressing deforestation risk within their commodity…
Adult male Sumatran orangutan in Gunung Leuser NP. Photos by Rhett Butler. A forest that is the only place where rhinos, tigers, elephants, and orangutans coexist is under threat from…
Pulp and paper plantation in Sumatra. Photo by Rhett Butler. Several more clothing companies have committed to eliminate fiber produced via destruction of endangered forests, adding momentum to a zero…
Deforestation for palm oil production in Malaysian Borneo. Photo by Rhett Butler. Agribusiness giant Bunge has joined the growing ranks of companies that have established zero deforestation policies for their…
Indonesian govt won't allow palm oil companies to protect forests Oil palm plantation in Borneo. A law passed by the Indonesian government last month makes it even more difficult for…
Report argues that a jurisdiction-based approach could be a solution if commodity certification fails to reduce deforestation Cattle pasture and a forest reserve in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Photo by Rhett…
Rainforest clearing for oil palm in Aceh Province, Sumatra. Photo by Rhett A. Butler A new report published by Forest Heroes, an advocacy campaign pushing for an end to deforestation,…