Starbucks and Sustainable Palm Oil

Starbucks shares the concern with NGO’s and activists that because tropical forests are being cleared foroil palm cultivation, destroying habitat and biodiversity, and impacting communities, more must bedone. While we are a comparatively minor purchaser of RSPO Palm Oil (.009% of the world’s supply; wewould rank 65th of 100 companies that are publicly reporting) we believe it is important for ourcompany, suppliers and the industry to work together to address these environmental and socialimpacts. With a forty-year effort to ethically and sustainably source coffee, Starbucks has throughimplementation of our Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.) practices helped farmers increase their yields
without encroaching or destroying forests land (Conservation International Executive Summary ofStarbucks Ethical Coffee).
To this end, we are committed to sourcing deforestation free, peat free, and exploitation free palm oil.
This approach is consistent with our Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.) and Cocoa Practices programs –as well as a stronger focus on preserving high carbon stock and remaining peat areas and managingexisting plantations on peat according to best practices. As members of the Roundtable on Sustainable
Palm Oil (RSPO), we are engaging the organization and other industry stakeholders regarding
sustainable production practices and support efforts.
To further demonstrate this commitment and encourage greater transparency, we will begin publicly
reporting our total tons of RSPO palm oil purchased through the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil’s(RSPO) Annual Communication of Progress (ACOP) http://www.rspo.org/members/acop) reporting
mechanism in February and announce, along with other sustainability and ethical sourcing
commitments for 2020, a timeline for achieving our zero deforestation commitment in company owned,
licensed and joint venture stores globally.
Since making our commitment in 2013, we worked with our suppliers to ensure they use only RSPO
certified palm oil for Starbucks-branded products in company owned stores globally by the end of 2015.
We are now in the process of working with our licensed and joint venture partners to encourage themto adopt this same commitment. Only palm oil with a traceability level of Mass Balance, Segregation, orstronger is acceptable. GreenPalm Certificates are not accepted as they do not provide supply chaintraceability.

Overview:
2013

July – Make commitment to use only Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certified palm
oil from Mass Balance or Segregation traceability systems for Starbucks branded products incompany operated stores.
- Follow best practices established by major purchasers and the traceability they provide, werequire suppliers to use RSPO certified palm oil from Mass Balance and Segregation systems.
- Determine that because GreenPalm Certificates do not provide traceability, they do notmeet our transparency criteria.

2014
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2015


April – Join RSPO Roundtable – the only recognized certification for responsibly sourced palm oil– and support efforts to improve industry standards.
June – Join 15 likeminded companies, investors and NGOs to become a signatory of the Green
Century letter which calls on RSPO to deepen and broaden its work on traceability andcommunity impacts.
July – Expand Palm Oil Policy to include our zero-tolerance approach to deforestation,
preserving high carbon stock and peat areas.

2016January – Consistent with our initial public-stated commitment, we will report on our progress
toward our 100% goal through RSPO’s Annual Communications of Progress reporting process.
March – Announce a time-bound commitment to extend our palm-oil policy beyond company
owned stores as part of Starbucks Global Responsibility 2020 Goals.

Updated January 19, 2016