Unilever has taken the wraps off a pilot scheme to further increase traceability and transparency in its global palm oil supply chain.
In a proof of concept in Indonesia, Unilever applied the GreenToken by SAP solution to source more than 188,000 tons of oil palm fruit.
The solution enabled Golden Agri-Resources and other suppliers from whom Unilever sources to create tokens that mirror the material flow of the palm oil throughout the supply chain and capture the unique attributes linked to the oil’s origin.
Raw materials like palm oil are often mixed with physically identical raw materials from verified sustainable and nonverified sources after the ‘first mile’ of the supply chain, causing the origin information to be either hidden or lost.
The GreenToken solution helped Unilever track, verify and report in near real time the origins and journey that palm oil takes through its long and complex supply chain.
“Unilever is committed to achieving a deforestation-free supply chain by 2023, and blockchain technology has the potential to help companies, like ours, track their supply chains to ensure the commodities we source respect people and the planet,” said Unilever chief procurement officer Dave Ingram.
“We are encouraged by the promising results of our pilot with GreenToken by SAP, the latest building block in our tech-enabled approach to ensure a more traceable and transparent supply chain,” he added.
