A year-long investigation by Greenpeace has found companies that supply Procter & Gamble (P&G) (NYSE:PG) with palm oil are engaged in clearing of rainforests and peatlands in Indonesia, suggesting that Head & Shoulders shampoo and other consumer products made by the company may be linked to forest destruction in Southeast Asia and beyond.

 

The report, issued Wednesday morning in Jakarta, is accompanied by colorful campaign materials, including an animation depicting deforestation of key habitat.

 

During the investigation, Greenpeace found that (P&G) is sourcing palm oil from BW Plantation, KLK and Musim Mas, companies that buy from plantations the activist group says are clearing documented tiger and orangutan habitat, setting land-clearing fires linked to the haze driving air pollution across Singapore and Malaysia, and draining carbon dense peatlands in Borneo, Sumatra, and New Guinea.

 

While P&G has already committed to sourcing palm oil it can confirm has "originated from responsible and sustainable sources" by 2015, Greenpeace is pushing the consumer products giant to adopt a more stringent policy like those established by Unilever and Nestlé. In turn, argues Greenpeace, this demand side pressure will encourage palm oil suppliers to clean up their operations. In the past three years, this approach has pushed palm oil giants Golden-Agri Resources and Wilmar to adopt zero deforestation policies, with additional social and environmental safeguards for production.

 

Palm oil has become one of the biggest drivers of deforestation in Southeast Asia over the past 20 years. According to a recent study, some 3.5 million hectares of forests were cleared in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Papua New Guinea between 1990 and 2010.

 

A cheap and versatile oil, palm oil is used in a wide variety of processed foods, cosmetics, soaps, and shampoos. It is also increasingly used as a feedstock for biodiesel.