Update on Recent Campaigns: HSBC and Palm Oil

At the Glastonbury Festival, campaigners were busy raising awareness of HSBC’s involvement with Sinar Mas, one of the worst companies responsible for ripping up the Indonesian rainforest for palm oil and pulp plantations.  The photo shows the replica bank in the Greenpeace field with the sign “This cashpoint is bang out of order”! 

Soon after the Greenpeace HSBC campaign started, HSBC sold its shares in Sinar Mas. In selling their Sinar Mas shares HSBC has met Greenpeace’s most urgent demand although their forest policy continues to be applied selectively.  Greenpeace will continue to push HSBC to ensure that their asset management division stops investing in palm oil originating from destroyed forests.
 
This week has also seen Greenpeace publish a new report exposing Sinar Mas’ pulp and paper arm (aka Asia Pulp and Paper). You can read more about the report on the Greenpeace website but the good news is that Tesco, Carrefour, and Kraft, on top of Nestle have said they will now suspend contracts with APP until they agree to stop trashing rainforests for pulp and paper production.
 
The campaign is really building momentum and Sinar Mas and its customers are finding it increasingly hard to hide.

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