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| Will Big Companies Support Ban on Palm Oil? |
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| Written by Miranda Marquit | |
| Friday, 16 November 2007 | |
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Will Greenpeace cripple the palm oil industry? Greenpeace hopes that it can draw attention to the damage palm oil plantations cause to the environment by preventing a ship carrying palm oil from leaving Indonesia (Indonesia's place in the top three carbon emitting countries comes from the process that leads to palm oil plantations). And while some are hailing palm oil as an alternative to coal and crude oil, the fact remains that the palm oil plantations can be damaging to the environment. Palm oil is also used in a great many goods and foods. Voice of America reports on the Greenpeace beef against palm oil plantations: 'Huge multinational companies like Unilever (UL), Proctor and Gamble (PG), and Nestle (NESM.F) are buying from companies where the palm oil in that supply chain is coming from forest and peatland destruction,' she said. 'What we are asking big companies to do is to agree to support a moratorium on palm oil coming from forest destruction and peatland destruction.'Greenpeace's actions highlight something else: the availability of more information concerning the origins of the products we use. With the Internet it is possible to research which companies use items such as palm oil that may do damage to the environment, but will Greenpeace's actions actually cause change? If the stock prices of companies that use palm oil go down (and I doubt they will), it will probably be due to publicity and perhaps a temporary spike in palm oil prices because of the blockage (the ship has 30,000 tons of palm oil). But I doubt any such effects will be long lasting. Disclosure: I do not own stock in any of the companies listed above, although it does turn out that I use products from all of these companies. Site disclaimer.  Photo:Wajakemek, Creative Commons, Flickr Miranda Marquit 
PG 
Comments
(2)
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written by David Neubert , November 18, 2007
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written by Mark Bershatsky , November 19, 2007
I don't think any such effects will be long lasting either. We have seen countless situations in the past where a grassroots organization(s) tries to boycott a certain large corporation(s) because of products it uses or certain business practices it employs, and yet there were no long-lasting effects. ExxonMobil may have paid huge environmental fees for the Exxon Valdez oil spill, however its share price has hardly sputtered since 1989.
In addition, palm oil is only one of the many substitutes available to replace petroleum-based diesel fuel. Currently, technologies are being developed to produce biodiesel from multiple feedstocks that are easier to come by (and thereby less expensive) and are 100% sustainable. Such feedstocks include animal tallow and municipal waste. Syntroleum (SYNM) and Brasil Ecodiesel (ECOD3.SA) are two such companies that compete in this space. Disclosure: I do not own shares of SYNM or ECOD3.SA. Tag it:           | |
| Last Updated ( Monday, 26 November 2007 ) | |
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Disclosure: I am the funder of this website and own Unilever ADR's (UN) and Nestle. I held Proctor and Gamble (PG) until a few months ago.