Corporate food giant Kellogg's is moving to import all of their palm oil from sustainable sources before 2025-and it's all thanks to the work of two young English sisters who were moved to help endangered orangutans.

12-year-old Asha Fitzpatrick and her 10-year-old sister Jia stopped eating Kellogg's cereals and petitioned the firm to improve its palm oil policy after watching a documentary about orphaned orangutans.

Despite its humble beginnings, their petition has since racked up more than 780,000 signatures. Not only that, it caught the eye of Kellogg's chiefs who invited the determined sisters to a meeting.

The sisters first met the firm's executives in 2018 to discuss possible changes to where they source their palm oil. The clear-cutting in forests to make way for new palm crops have been blamed for devastating the orangutans' natural habitat.

Since then, impressed Kellogg's bosses have pledged to appoint "trusted NGOs" (or nonprofits) to oversee the firm's planned switch to segregated palm oil-a more sustainable form of the ingredient widely used in food and cosmetics.

Alison Last, a spokeswoman for Kellogg's, said: "In February 2020, Kellogg updated its Global Palm Oil Policy and launched its Global Deforestation Policy, as well as plans that reflect an evolution of the company's strategies and actions to further drive impact at scale.

"…Kellogg's is committed to working with its global palm oil suppliers to source fully traceable palm oil that is produced in a manner that's environmentally responsible, socially beneficial and economically viable, which includes helping to mitigate deforestation."

In a policy document handed to the Kirkpatricks, Kellogg's confirmed that it is now "committed" to sourcing 100% of its palm oil sustainably by 2025.

The firm currently sources 15% of its palm oil from uncertified producers and offsets the costs by purchasing environmental "credits" from the conservation nonprofit Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil.

Additionally, the food giant has pledged to partner with "trusted" NGOs and work with smallholders to "combat deforestation and support forest restoration."

The company announced the move in a meeting with the sisters on Friday, 18 months after they first launched their petition.

Harvinder Dhinsa, the girls' delighted mum, said: "They were really surprised by the announcement.

"They weren't expecting such a commitment. I'm really proud of them," she added. "It shows no matter how small you are that you have a voice and people will listen."

Dhinsa, who is from Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, said her daughters have decided to keep the petition active in order to ensure that Kellogg's management keeps their word.

"If they don't follow through, we will be on their backs," she added. "The announcement is great, but we need to keep their feet to the fire and ensure changes are made before we can say it's done.

"That's why the petition stays open and we are still calling for signatures."

Dhinsa said the girls' petition gained momentum after environmental charity Greenpeace launched a campaign to save the endangered orangutans in Borneo that are losing their homes and habitats to palm oil production.

The girls first met with Kellogg's chiefs, including Oli Morton, managing director for Western Europe, back in 2018.

"The first meeting was a bit of a charm offensive," recalled Dhinsa. They gave the girls cereal boxes, posed for photos and spoke about changing their policy."

In the second meeting last year, Dhinsa said the girls left "disappointed" after the managers seemed to backtrack on their previous claims.

"They rolled back on the commitment saying they were a small player in the global palm oil market without much power to change things," said the mother. "But on Friday, our third meeting, the firm's tone became very positive.

"I'm certain that increased media coverage on climate change, the Australian forest fires and figures like Greta Thunberg have encouraged their new stance."

Dhinsa said Kellogg's bosses have agreed to meet with the girls again in six months to update them on their progress, and to tell them which NGOs they have appointed for the transition.

Now, the young sisters are considering approaching other firms to see whether they will "step up" and follow Kellogg's lead.

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