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commitment to source palm oil only from producers that are committed to protecting the environment and respecting human rights was introduced in late 2013 as a reaction to the reckless expansion of oil palm plantations.

The commitment, dubbed No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation (NDPE), was introduced by the world’s biggest palm oil trader, Wilmar International. It was followed immediately by other traders and producers of consumer goods who vowed to supply the market only with deforestation-free palm oil by 2020.

Fast forward five years, environmental group Greenpeace International has found that the commitment was far from being realized and palm oil producers were still committing extensive deforestation practices.

In a report obtained by The Jakarta Post, Greenpeace revealed that 25 major palm oil producers supplying the world’s largest brands were “known to have destroyed more than 130,000 hectares of forest and peatland since 2015, an area almost twice the size of Singapore.

“[The number] is almost certainly an underestimate of the full scale of devastation, because the total size of their collective landbank is unknown.”

From the total damaged area, around 40 percent of the destruction, or 56,000 ha, occurred in “[Papua province], the newest front in the palm oil industry’s war against the environment.”

Papua is one of most biodiverse regions in the world.

“If we don’t stop [the palm oil producers], then Papua’s beautiful forests will be destroyed for palm oil,” the head of Greenpeace’s global Indonesia forests campaign, Kiki Taufik, said in a statement.

The report also claimed that Wilmar “was buying from 18 of the palm oil groups [assessed during Greenpeace’s investigation].”

These producers’ output is also being used by at least 12 international consumer goods brands, including Unilever, Nestlé, Mondelez and Colgate-Palmolive.

“[These] household brands […] promised their customers they’d only use clean palm oil, but they haven’t kept that promise,” Kiki said. “Brands must fix this problem once and for all by cutting Wilmar off until it can prove its palm oil is clean.”

Reacting to the report, Wilmar said in a statement that it was “disappointed with the allegations made by Greenpeace”.

The company added it had carried out a number of programs to ensure the sustainability of its palm oil supply, such as suspending suppliers that failed to issue more environmentally friendly policies and actions.

Nestlé also denied the report, saying: “We have put in place […] measures to improve transparency and the practices of suppliers.”

Unilever, Mondelez and Colgate-Palmolive did not respond to the Post’s request for a comment.

Responding to the report, the Indonesian Palm Oil Producers Association (Gapki) deputy chairman Togar Sitanggang said Gapki had ensured that each of its member obeyed the law and prevented further environmental damages.

“In converting land into oil palm plantations, it has to be converted from a forest area to a non-forest areas, or areas for other use [APL]. Therefore, companies are allowed to do it legally. On whether to cut down trees, that is each company’s [choice],” Togar said.

He added that Gapki would not cover up for companies caught violating the law and regulations on environmental protection.

The palm oil industry has long been under scrutiny for allegedly causing environmental damages in many parts of the world, including Indonesia, particularly deforestation and forest fires.

Rizal Malik of World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Indonesia said the palm oil industry would never be sustainable, regardless of how many sustainability certifications companies have.

“People in the industry still prefer the expansion approach. The solution is to apply an agriculture intensification program, such as choosing higher quality seeds over the low-quality ones,” Rizal told the Post.