Thread by @MartynMcL

EXCL: The UK Government has been accused of turning COP26 into a “greenwashing platform” after partnering with a firm condemned by environmental groups for sourcing palm oil products from businesses accused of widespread deforestation activities. Thread👇
scotsman.com/news/politics/…

Reckitt, the government’s latest ‘top tier’ sponsor of the upcoming COP26 climate change summit, may not be a familiar name, but it owns household brands like Dettol, Vanish and Nurofen. It uses more than 134,000 tonnes of palm oil products to make its goods every year.

Its suppliers include Wilmar International, the world’s largest palm oil trader, which has been implicated in deforestation activity and human rights abuses by groups including Amnesty International.

In December, Mighty Earth, the environmental campaign group, claimed an area of natural forest the size of 1,500 football fields had been cleared in eastern Indonesia by one of Wilmar’s suppliers.

Jhonlin, another mill firm named Reckitt’s own supplier list as recently as 2019, has been accused of clearing around 5,900 hectares of forest that year, and approx 5,000 hectares the previous year. Reckitt says Jhonlin is no longer one of its suppliers.

Reckitt has also been adjudged by @WWF to be “lagging behind” in its duties as a responsible user of palm oil, scoring just 6.8 out of a possible 22 in an analysis by the leading conservation organisation.

.@GreenpeaceUK told me that for any COP26 sponsor to be involved in “climate wrecking activities” suggested “greenwash is at play.” @FoEScot told me such an important climate change summit can’t be allowed to become “a shop window for greenwashing.”

.@DeidreBrock, the SNP’s COP26 spokeswoman, told me: “Reckitt is knee-deep in the deforestation accompanying palm oil production ... Greenwashing reputations is pretty much always distasteful, but using an international climate change conference for it is a step beyond.”

.@MarkRuskell from the Scottish Greens said: “The UK Government seems determined to use COP26 as a greenwashing platform for planet-wrecking companies to try and claw back some credibility.”

Reckitt said zero deforestation was key to its palm oil strategy, and that it was “working with suppliers to reduce their environmental footprint, to prevent deforestation and progressively regenerate key ecosystems.”

The UK government said COP26 sponsors like Reckitt had met its “robust sponsorship criteria,” and ensured the Glasgow summit “will provide value for money to the UK taxpayer.” It won't tell me how much £££ Reckitt is paying to become a COP26 'principal partner'.

I asked the Cabinet Office if it had made any representations to Reckitt about deforestation in its supply chain prior to confirming its appointment as a principal partner in the summit. I'm still none the wiser.

Thanks for reading. I’m off for a break, but if you have a tip off or info about COP26, or indeed any other issue, my DMs are open, or you can email martynmcl at protonmail dot com 🐇🐰🥚