Congo Palm-Oil Producer Implicated in Environmental Report
Congo Palm-Oil Producer Implicated in Environmental Report
Palm-oil producer Feronia Inc., which is part-owned by the U.K. development-finance institution CDC Group Plc, is polluting the environment and threatening the health of its workers in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Human Rights Watch said. Feronia and CDC said they were addressing the organization’s concerns.
Feronia, which is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange, took over three palm-oil plantations in Congo from Unilever NV in 2009. CDC owns about 38% of the project, which has also received investments from the development banks of Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands. The company leases over 100,000 hectares (247,100 acres) of land from the Congolese government in north of the country.
New York-based Human Rights Watch accused Feronia of not protecting its workers from exposure to harmful pesticides and polluting the water supply around its plantations in a report released Monday.
Feronia said it’s improving working conditions, increasing salaries, investing in clean water, and training staff to protect themselves from toxic chemicals since it took over the neglected Unilever plantations.
“We recognize that there is still a great deal to be done and are committed to operating to international standards,” Feronia said In an emailed statement.
In a joint statement, the four European development banks said they were aware of the problems at Feronia and its subsidiary, Plantations et Huileries du Congo SA, or PHC, and were working with the company to address them.
“We choose to work with companies like PHC/Feronia because that’s where we have the potential to have the greatest impact in some of the poorest and most needy countries in the world,” they said. “It is vital not to judge us only on what is left to be done, but also on the progress that has already been made, and on the credibility of our plans on what is still lacking.”
CDC, along with Belgium’s BIO, Germany’s DEG, and the Netherlands’ FMO have invested a combined $100 million in the palm-oil project over the last six years, according to the statement.
To contact the reporter on this story: Michael J. Kavanagh in Kinshasa at mkavanagh9@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Gordon Bell at gbell16@bloomberg.net, Hilton Shone, Pauline Bax
©2019 Bloomberg L.P.