Over the past months, I’ve been working on a report documenting the practices of Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad (KLK), one of the most notorious producers of Conflict Palm Oil on the planet. I knew when I started that KLK’s practices were devastating, but nothing could have prepared me for what RAN has uncovered.

The sheer magnitude of the abuse that KLK has engaged in—from destruction of pristine tropical forest in Indonesia, to attempted land grabs from Indigenous communities in remote areas of the island of Papua New Guinea, to outright slavery and child labor—was shocking.

The worst part? Cargill is buying palm oil from KLK and then selling it to consumer product companies that make some of the most popular brand-name products in the world.

The expanse of this egregious behavior is breathtaking. And unfortunately, due to the murky world of palm oil traders and suppliers, KLK is able to continue to operate with absolute impunity while major traders like Cargill continue to purchase the palm oil it produces to sell to food manufacturers in the United States and around the world.

Tell Cargill’s new CEO, David MacLennan, that it’s time for his company to cut Conflict Palm Oil from its supply chains.

As long as Cargill continues to purchase Conflict Palm Oil, no questions asked, from reprehensible companies like KLK, KLK and its peers have absolutely no motivation to change. Why stop using child labor or stealing land when nobody is holding them accountable?

This has to change, and it will with your help.

Cargill needs to implement a responsible palm oil sourcing policy that blacklists any company that produces Conflict Palm Oil and engages in horrific human rights abuses immediately. Time is running out. Cargill is lagging behind other traders that have realized that business as usual is no longer tenable.

Tell Cargill that its dirty secret of cheap Conflict Palm Oil is out, and you won’t tolerate the human rights abuses from Cargill’s trading operations and partners.

Please send your message to Cargill’s new CEO. It’s crucial that Cargill hears from you.

		For the forests and the people that call them home,
		Robin Averbeck Senior Forest Campaigner