UPDATE 1-Unilever to buy certified sustainable palm oil

(Adds Greenpeace reaction)

AMSTERDAM, May 1 (Reuters) - Consumer goods company Unilever (UNc.AS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (ULVR.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) will start buying palm oil from certified sustainable sources this year and aims to have all its palm oil certified by 2015, the company said on Thursday.

The announcement follows protests across Europe last month, when Greenpeace activists, some dressed up as orang-utans, demonstrated against the source of Unilever's palm oil, an ingredient in foods and soaps.

Greenpeace says the peatland forests of Indonesia, one of the last remaining habitats of the orang-utan, are being damaged to provide palm oil.

Unilever owns dozens of household name brands in foods, beverages and cleaning products and buys around 1.3 million tonnes of palm oil a year, making it, according to Greenpeace, the world's single largest buyer of the product.

Unilever said it started working on sustainable palm oil 10 years ago by developing its own guidelines with growers and suppliers, leading to an industry consensus on criteria for sustainable cultivation.

"Now we need to take the next step. Suppliers need to move to meet the criteria, by getting certified both the palm oil from their own plantations and the palm oil they buy from elsewhere," Unilever Chief Executive Patrick Cescau said in a statement.

"We also intend to support the call for an immediate moratorium on any further deforestation in Indonesia for palm oil."

Greenpeace welcomed Unilever's call for a moratorium on rainforest destruction in Indonesia.