Fries, Face Wash, Forests: Scoring America's Top Brands on their Palm Oil Commitments

The Union of Concerned Scientists evaluated 40 companies in the packaged food, personal care, fast food, and store brands sectors based on their commitments to deforestation-free and peat-free palm oil, traceability, transparency, and current sourcing. Scoring was based on public documents available as of January 16, 2015, and included a weighted analysis of current sourcing. Results showed significant variance, with Nestle scoring the highest (90.5) and several companies, including Clorox and various store brands, scoring zero.

• The evaluation covered 40 companies divided equally into four sectors: packaged food, personal care, fast food, and store brands. The store brands sector was a new addition for the 2015 scorecard, consisting of the top 10 US-based companies from food, drug, and discount retail store industries, excluding Sysco.
• Companies were scored on a 100-point scale across five criteria: Deforestation-Free (20 points), Peat-Free (20 points), Traceability (20 points), Transparency (20 points), and Current Sourcing (20 points). Full points for deforestation-free commitments required protecting all forests, including "secondary, disturbed, or high carbon stock forests."
• The 'Current Sourcing' score used a weighted equation based on the type of palm oil purchased. Deforestation- and peat-free palm oil received full weight, while physically sourced CSPO or sustainable palm oil was weighted at 0.5, and palm fruit oil sourced through GreenPalm (PFOGP) was weighted at 0.25.
• The Union of Concerned Scientists categorized companies based on their total scores: 'Strong Commitment' (66 or higher), 'Some Commitment' (36 to 65), 'Little Commitment' (1 to 35), and 'No Commitment' (0).
• In the packaged food sector, Nestle achieved the highest total score of 90.5, followed by Danone (89.2) and Kellogg Co. (88.5). In contrast, Kraft scored 10.
• In the personal care sector, Colgate-Palmolive scored the highest at 88, while Clorox received a total score of 0.
• The fast food and store brands sectors showed lower overall commitment levels. In fast food, Dunkin’ Brands scored 70, while Yum! Brands scored 0. In store brands, Safeway scored 72.1, while Target, Costco, Dollar General, and Dollar Tree all scored 0.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (n.d.). Fries, Face Wash, Forests: Scoring America's Top Brands on their Palm Oil Commitments. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/03/ucs-palm-oil-methodology-2015_0.pdf

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. Fries, Face Wash, Forests: Scoring America's Top Brands on their Palm Oil Commitments. n.d. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/03/ucs-palm-oil-methodology-2015_0.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=Fries, Face Wash, Forests: Scoring America's Top Brands on their Palm Oil Commitments |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/03/ucs-palm-oil-methodology-2015_0.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unionofconcernedscientistsndfries, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{Fries, Face Wash, Forests: Scoring America's Top Brands on their Palm Oil Commitments}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/03/ucs-palm-oil-methodology-2015_0.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }