Unilever praised by Prince Charles

The Prince of Wales commended the Unilever group after it pledged to use only sustainably produced palm oil in its products. Recent protests against Unilever accused the CPG giant of “systematically destroying the rainforests of Indonesia”.

After the Unilever announcement, Britain’s Prince Charles, a passionate supporter of the rain forests, stated at his May Day Summit on Climate Change conference in London: "This really is a groundbreaking development which could make the whole difference to the future of the rainforests. I can only pray that other companies which use palm oil will follow your determined and principled leadership - this really is corporate responsibility in action."

Company chief executive Patrick Cescau commented, “Palm oil is an important raw material for us and the whole consumer goods industry. We use a substantial amount of palm oil and we want to be an agent for positive change, as we have been in fish, tea and other areas."

Earlier Prince Charles had called on Britain's business leaders to take "essential action" to make their firms more sustainable. He urged them to seize the "economic opportunities" that come from tackling global warming.

Along with Prince Charles, Greenpeace and WWW International welcomed Unilever's call for a halt to rainforest destruction in Indonesia which it said was wiping out orangutans and devastating the climate. The destruction of Indonesia's peatland rainforests contributes about 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Rod Taylor, Director at WWF International, said: "We applaud Unilever's pledge of support for efforts to halt deforestation in Indonesia and to create a palm oil supply drawn entirely from certified sustainable sources."

Unilever is one of the founding members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) which works to develop good practices for palm oil suppliers. Unilever, which produces brands such as Flora, Becel, Dove and Omo, operates in 100 countries and had sales worth £30bn last year, has stated that it will support the call for an immediate moratorium on any further deforestation for palm oil in Indonesia.