Palm | Kelapa Sawit

Now Burger King has dropped Sinar Mas, the palm oil giant which is struggling to cope with a reputational disaster for alleged environmental damage through destroying forests.

Last month, Sinar Mas unsuccessfully tried to use an audit report to clear itself from the allegations. That attempt backfired when BSI, one of the audit firms involved, came out saying that the report was misrepresented.

We did our bit of coverage on this blog and on Ethical Corporation website and also in Ethical Corporation magazine. See here.

Now Burger King has cited the same audit report in its decision to stop buying palm oil from Sinar Mas group companies.

A statement by Burger King reads: "After completing a thorough review of the independent verification report conducted by Control Union Certification (CUC) and BSI Group, we believe the report has raised valid concerns about some of the sustainability practices of Sinar Mas' palm oil production and its impact on the rainforest. These practices are inconsistent with our corporate responsibility commitments."

"As a result, we have decided we will no longer purchase palm oil from Sinar Mas or its subsidiaries."

By the way, Sinar Mas Group walked away with no so coveted title of Greenwasher of the Year at the Ethical Corporation Responsible Business 2010 Awards earlier this year.

The problem with many of the palm oil companies is that they really don't get it. They also continue to rely on half-baked self-certified corporate responsibility consultants and incompetent PR executives to address the issue. It is not working. And will not work. It's time for them to get some sound advice from sound minded professionals.