Vote for world's most evil corporation award

Want to vote for the world’s perceived most evil corporations in a prominent naming and shaming exercise?
Six are in the running, in this order:
BP, whose oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico cost 11 people their lives and has killed off vast marine areas for years to come.
Under the misleading name of “Green Diesel", Neste Oil of Finland mass-produces biofuel that results in the clearing of rain forest.
Axpo obtains uranium from the most radioactive place on Earth and has been concealing this fact for years.
Foxconn’s miserable working conditions drove at least 18 young Chinese to commit suicide in 2010.
AngloGold Ashanti’s gold mining in Ghana contaminates soil and poisons people.
Philip Morris filed a complaint against Uruguay’s anti-smoking laws, undermining public health policy.
The voting happens at http://www.publiceye.ch/en/ranking/.
The awards are made by The Public Eye Awards to mark a critical counterpoint to the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. Berne Declaration and Greenpeace annually reminds the corporate world that social and environmental misdeeds have consequences - for the affected people and territory, but also for the reputation of the offender.
Whether exploitative working conditions, environmental sins, intentional disinformation, or other disregards of corporate social responsibility: At the forefront of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in late January, the most evil offenses appear on the shortlist of the Public Eye Awards 2011.
“The firms placed in the pillory will feel the heat: Our renowned naming&shaming awards shine an international spotlight on corporate scandals and thereby help focused NGO campaigns succeed. This year's categories are the GLOBAL award (chosen by an internal panel of experts) and the PEOPLE'S award (chosen by YOU and thousands of other online activists),” the organisation says on its website.
Milieudefensie of The Netherlands nominated Neste Oil. Within the next two years the Finnish energy corporation is on track to become the number one buyer of palm oil and the world’s largest producer of biofuels. Even today, under the misleading label "Neste Green Diesel", the company sells "biodiesel" made from palm oil throughout Europe. The Malaysia-based IOI Group, Neste’s main supplier, has doubled its palm oil concessions as Neste is expanding its productive capacity in Rotterdam and Singapore. The company claims that the oil it is buying from IOI is sustainable. But IOI is involved in all manner of illicit activities such as illegal logging, slash and burn clearing of forests, forcing people from their homes, destroying the habitats of people, animals and plants, destruction of orangutan habitats.

The growing demand for palm oil accelerates rainforest destruction and displaces ever more local communities in Indonesia and Malaysia. IOI recently lost a 12-year court case in Malaysia over land confiscation that involved bribe-taking by local authorities. Last but not least, the carbon balance of Neste Oil’s fuel is quite devastating—worse in fact than that of ordinary diesel! Presently, Neste is preparing to enter the market for airplane fuel as a supplier for Finnair and Lufthansa, generating further heat for people and the climate.
Neste Oil has bold plans. In 2012 the company is expected to use 2.5 million tons of palm oil or 5% of total global production, thus becoming the world’s number one palm oil processor. Neste Oil is building additional refineries in Rotterdam and Singapore to add to its existing capacities in Finland. To meet its ambitious production schedule Neste Oil needs additional plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia—developed at the expense of the local rainforests and their inhabitants. Public protests in December 2008 forced Neste Oil to abandon a similar project once already.
Driven by the rapid development of the market for so-called "biodiesel" the global demand for palm oil is expected to double between 2000 and 2030 and to triple by 2050. The Indonesian government is planning to increase the country’s current 7 million hectares of palm oil plantations by 4 million hectares just for "biodiesel". Starting in 2011, Neste Oil will also sell fuel for airplanes. In fact, just a few weeks from now Lufthansa and Finnair are planning to introduce their first regular passenger flights powered by biofuels from Neste Oil. Neste Oil claims its supply chain is 100 percent legitimate but refuses to provide proof and keeps its books closed.
Vast expanses of precious rainforest are sacrificed to the growing European demand for palm oil. This production requires chemicals that poison workers, villages, soil, water, fauna and flora. The transformation of rainforests into plantations also destroys the habitats of endangered species such as the orangutan.
The destruction of carbon rich peat forests poses a particular hazard. With each step of deforestation vast amounts CO2 are released into the atmosphere. Indigenous communities are driven from lands they have inhabited and cultivated for decades. The great demand for cropland also drives up prices for other agricultural products, including food—thus jeopardizing global food safety.
Neste Oil and the government of Finland as the company’s majority shareholder must stop using palm oil to produce biofuels. Instead, energy corporations must direct their resources to the development of truly sustainable raw materials and other forms of energy. Last but not least, customers must take responsibility as well: Lufthansa and Finnair should not purchase fuel from irresponsible companies like Neste Oil and should refrain from putting palm oil into their tanks in the first place.