Neste Oil's response to the Public Eye Award
Neste Oil Corporation
Press release
28 January 2011 at 2.40 pm
Neste Oil's response to the Public Eye Award
Neste Oil is disappointed in the outcome of the Public Eye Award announced today and believes that it does not reflect the true nature of the situation.
"The result is not a positive one for us, but it is important to put it in perspective," says Simo Honkanen, Neste Oil's Senior Vice President, Sustainability and HSSE.
"We believe that we are one of the world's most responsible companies buying palm oil today. We only buy palm oil produced according to sustainable principles with a verifiable origin that is available. We have received extensive positive international recognition for our responsible approach from independent expert bodies in a number of reviews and indexes. The most recent example of this was the Forest Footprint Disclosure 2010 Report published yesterday, in which Neste Oil was ranked as the best oil company in terms of its forest footprint reporting for the second time. Set against this track record, it seems surprising that Neste Oil has been singled out for such criticism through the Public Eye Award."
Neste Oil produces premium-quality renewable diesel from vegetable oil and waste fat from the food industry that is capable of making a real contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
"We take full responsibility for all aspects of our operations and the sustainability of the renewable raw materials we use, and we work very hard to ensure our overall sustainability," continues Honkanen.
"We would like to see all the other users of palm oil act in the same way, regardless of where they are based or which industry they are in. We would also like to see legislators introduce the same strict sustainability requirements on other areas of palm oil use as they have on its use in fuel production. As only a couple of percent of world palm oil output is used in fuel production, ensuring that everyone using palm oil acts sustainably is of critical importance in terms of the bigger picture. For our part, we at Neste Oil remain committed to continuing to promote sustainable palm oil production in cooperation with others in the industry."
The Public Eye Award is organized by Berne Declaration and Greenpeace, and dedicated to highlighting the "most evil corporation of the year" from six candidates chosen by the organizers. Greenpeace has actively campaigned for people to vote for Neste Oil. In the global vote, which lasted a couple of weeks, Neste Oil received 17,385 votes.
Neste Oil has commented on the Public Eye Award vote earlier, highlighting the sustainable nature of its operations. See http://www.nesteoil.fi/default.asp?path=35;52;88;100;101;16745;16747 for more details.
Neste Oil Corporation
Hanna Maula
Director, Corporate Communications
Further information: Simo Honkanen, Senior Vice President, Sustainability and HSSE, tel. +358 50 458 4170
Neste Oil in brief
Neste Oil Corporation is a refining and marketing company concentrating on low-emission, high-quality traffic fuels. The company is the world's leading supplier of renewable diesel. Neste Oil's refineries are located in Porvoo and Naantali and have a combined crude oil refining capacity of approx. 260,000 barrels a day. The company had net sales of EUR 9.6 billion in 2009 and employs around 5,000 people. Neste Oil's share is listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki.
Neste Oil has been selected into the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index and awarded 'Best in Class' recognition for its social accountability by Storebrand. The company is also featured in the Ethibel Pioneer Investment Register and included in Innovest's Global 100 list of the world's most sustainable corporations. Forest Footprint Disclosure (FFD) has ranked Neste Oil as the best performer in the oil & gas sector. Further information: www.nesteoil.com.