Nestlé has announced that it has joined a coalition of major palm oil producers and buyers to support and fund the development of Radar Alerts for Detecting Deforestation (RADD), a radar-based forest monitoring system.
The initiative will take the food giant a step closer to its no-deforestation commitment by contributing to industry transformation through the publicly accessible monitoring system.
Global head of responsible sourcing at Nestlé, Benjamin Ware, said, "No longer can anyone claim to be unaware of the deforestation risks around their supply chains."
Radar-Based Monitoring System
RADD is the first radar-based monitoring system of this scale that will make deforestation alerts publicly available on Global Forest Watch and Global Forest Watch Pro, Nestlé said in its statement.
The technology is being developed by the Wageningen University and Satelligence, and facilitated by World Resources Institute.
Ware added, "We take an integrated approach in addressing the risks of deforestation, combining tools like certification, supply chain mapping, on-the-ground verification, and satellite monitoring.
"We are pleased to support the development of forest monitoring systems like RADD as it will bring accountability and transparency across the industry."
An Open System
The open nature of the system will enable companies, governments, civil society organisations, and concerned stakeholders to monitor forests using the same information source and standards.
Nestlé aims to make almost 100% of its products deforestation-free within the next three years.
As of April 2019, 77% of the key agricultural commodities bought by the company, including palm oil, were verified as deforestation-free.
Since the end of 2018, Nestlé has been monitoring 100% of its global palm oil supply chains using Starling, a monitoring system using optical and radar satellites, the food giant added.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
