Along with a coalition of major palm oil producers and buyers, Nestlé is helping to support and fund the development of new publicly available radar-based forest monitoring system to boost supply chain traceability and transparency.
Since the end of 2018, Nestlé has been monitoring 100% of its global palm oil supply chains using Starling, a monitoring system using optical and radar satellites. This allows the company to manage risks and perform field intervention strategies to drive changes.
Supporting Radar Alerts for Detecting Deforestation (RADD) is the next step in the company’s no deforestation commitment.
Developed by Wageningen University and Satelligence, and facilitated by World Resources Institute, RADD is the first radar-based monitoring system of this scale that will make deforestation alerts publicly available. Alerts will be made available on Global Forest Watch and Global Forest Watch Pro.
The open nature of the system will enable companies – plus governments, civil society organizations and concerned stakeholders – to monitor forests using the same information source and standards.
As of April 2019, 77% of the key agricultural commodities Nestlé buys, including palm oil, were verified deforestation-free. That figure will surpass 90% by the end of 2020, the company said.
