Dive Summary:
- During Kellogg Co.'s earnings conference call Thursday, Lucia von Reusner of Boston's Green Century Capital Management Inc. grilled CEO John Bryant on allegations that Chinese partner Wilmar International Ltd. was destroying rain forests.
- Web-based environmental group SumOfUs encouraged consumers to call Kellogg and also presented a petition at the company's Battle Creek, Mich., headquarters asking that it get tough on its partner or end the joint venture.
- Kellogg and other companies, including Unilever, have come under fire in recent years from environmental groups and activists who seek an end to the plowing of Southeast Asian rain forests to farm palm oil.
From the article:
... “As a company publicly committed to sustainability, how will Kellogg ensure that the Kellogg brand is not associated with the illegal deforestation that its partner Wilmar has been accused of,” von Reusner said on the call. “How will you ensure the Kellogg brand remains sustainable and all that?”
Bryant defended the company’s record on sustainability and in an interview minutes after the call said: “We take the whole area of sustainability of palm oil very seriously. We buy sustainably sourced palm oil, and where it’s not available we buy the green certificates to cover it.” ...
