Corporate Storytelling: Tracking Reporting on Palm Oil Sourcing over time

Key Findings

• Across 20 reports (Unilever, Nestlé, Mondelēz, P&G), sustainability disclosures are consistently framed around reputational risk and brand protection — not the intrinsic value of nature.

• Three patterns of commitment evasion were identified: goalpost shifting (e.g. Unilever lowering its deforestation target from 100% to 95% after missing its deadline), rhetorical pivoting (switching from "deforestation-free" to the less auditable "regenerative agriculture"), and commitment disappearance (P&G dropped 7 of 9 commitments between year 1 and year 2).

• RSPO "100% certification" claims obscure which certification tier is used — physically certified supply vs. offset credits — making genuine accountability nearly impossible from reports alone.

• The introduction of mandatory CSRD reporting in 2024 produced a measurable shift in Unilever and Nestlé's language: declarative compliance language surged while aspirational prose declined, suggesting top-down regulation can meaningfully constrain corporate storytelling.