Dole goes bananas for offsets

[bananas]

http://climateprogress.org/2007/08/21/dole-goes-bananas-for-offsets/

Dole goes bananas for offsets

Yes, Dole announced last week a plan to “produce and market ‘carbon neutral’ bananas and pineapples.” Their effort is “aimed at establishing a carbon neutral product supply chain for bananas and pineapples, from their production in Costa Rica to the markets in North America and Europe.”

The deal is with the National Forestry Financing Fund and Costa Rica’s Ministry of Environment and Energy, so I guess we are talking tree offsets here. Well, Costa Rica is probably better than most countries at delivering real, additional benefits — and the trees will be tropical. The P.R. even has a quote from the Minister, noting that the country aims “to become the first carbon neutral country in the world by 2021.”

I guess Dole really wants to sell you bananas that are really green.


http://www.dole.com/CompanyInfo/PressRelease/PressReleaseDetail.jsp?ID=1558

DOLE FOOD COMPANY, INC. ANNOUNCES CARBON NEUTRAL PROJECT IN COLLABORATION WITH COSTA RICA

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, California - AUGUST 09, 2007

Dole Food Company, Inc. today announced that Standard Fruit de Costa Rica, Dole's operating subsidiary in Costa Rica, and Fondo Nacional de Financiamento Forestal (FONAFIFO), the National Forestry Financing Fund and an entity of the Ministry of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica, signed a ground breaking agreement to work together on a project aimed at establishing a carbon neutral product supply chain for bananas and pineapples, from their production in Costa Rica to the markets in North America and Europe.

'Carbon neutral', as applied to the banana and pineapple product supply chains, means that the carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted to produce, pack, transport and distribute the fruit will be offset by mitigation practices which increase the capture of CO2 in order to achieve a 'neutral' balance. These practices entail new, more efficient transportation methods, changes to agricultural processes to reduce CO2 emissions, and partnering with local farmers to implement preservation and reforestation programs.

David A. DeLorenzo, President and Chief Executive Officer of Dole Food Company, Inc., stated: "The environment is a concern for all of us. Companies, consumers, governments and non-governmental organizations should endeavor to promote and adopt new production and distribution methods and consumption behavior in order to reverse harmful trends to the environment. As the world's largest producer and distributor of fruits and vegetables, Dole is determined to take the lead in its sector and the agreement with FONAFIFO is a good starting point."

Roberto Dobles, PhD., Minister of the Environment and Energy of Costa Rica stated, "Dole is a such an important company in the production of bananas and pineapples on a global level that we are very enthusiastic that Standard Fruit made the decision to strive to become a carbon neutral company here in Costa Rica and join our efforts to become the first carbon neutral country in the world by 2021. With this agreement, Dole demonstrates its enormous capacity to innovate and develop processes that will be reflected in benefits to the environment. I hope that this initiative will be followed by others in the private sector, so that we may unite efforts in favor of the environment."

Sylvain Cuperlier, Vice President, Director of Worldwide Corporate Social Responsibility of Dole Food Company, Inc. stated: "Dole has long been recognized for its environmental programs. Today, we want to utilize the Company's environmental management systems and our staff's expertise to produce and market 'carbon neutral' bananas and pineapples. To this end, we want to pull together all resources available within our Company and partner further with recognized organizations. Dole's achievements in this area will come from working relationships with our employees, independent producers, labor representatives, government, academia, NGO's, customers, and suppliers."

Dole Food Company, Inc., with 2006 revenues of $6.2 billion, is the world's largest producer and marketer of high-quality fresh fruit, fresh vegetables and fresh-cut flowers. Dole markets a growing line of packaged and frozen foods and is a produce industry leader in nutrition education and research.

This release contains "forward-looking statements," within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Forward looking statements, which are based on management's current expectations, are generally identifiable by the use of terms such as "may," "will," "expects," "believes," "intends" and similar expressions. The potential risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied herein include weather-related phenomena; market responses to industry volume pressures; product and raw materials supplies and pricing; changes in interest and currency exchange rates; economic crises and security risks in developing countries; international conflict; and quotas, tariffs and other governmental actions. Further information on the factors that could affect Dole's financial results is included in its SEC filings, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K.

[razzleberry]

1. carbon offsets, what a POS .n/t.

[Javaman]

3. offsets do nothing more than giving the corps that feel good green

marketing tool to sell more of their bullshit.

[Kolesar]

2. Is it true that "tropical trees" are the real "carbon sink" as opposed to trees in the USA, ?...

... a region that would be described as a "temperate zone"? Hence, even an earnest tree planting campaign in Michigan or Georgia won't make up for the destruction of the Amazon Basin.

please keep us apprised of this important topic, bananas

[bananas]

4. Trees in the USA can be good, too

http://climateprogress.org/2007/07/03/offset-rule-2-two-rare-exceptions-to-rule-1/

<snip>

Let’s start with urban trees. I am a big fan of those — I have coauthored a Technology Review article and blogged on how shade trees in particular reduce the urban heat island, providing direct cooling as well as reduced air conditioning use. A good article on urban trees as offsets is here.

<snip>