Sales of palm oil certified under the leading sustainability standard surged 225 percent in 2010, suggesting growing consumer interest in more responsibly-sourced palm oil.
The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), the body that devised the social and environmental certification initiative, says sales of certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO) reached 1.3 million metric tons in 2010, up from 400,000 tons in 2009.
Roughly 2.3 million tons of CSPO was produced in 2010, indicating that about 56 percent of available palm oil was sold. CSPO production amounted to 1.3 million tons in 2009.
Uptake of certified palm oil is expected to accelerate in coming years. In 2010 the Netherlands—Europe’s largest trader of palm oil—announced it would source only CSPO by 2015, a commitment also pledged by Unilever, Walmart, and several other major companies. At the same time, the Brazilian government has unveiled plans to greatly expand CSPO production on non-forest lands in the Amazon Basin. Production could eventually outpace that of Indonesia and Malaysia, presently the world’s leading palm oil-producing countries.
Global palm oil consumption stands at nearly 50 million tons per year, about half of which is traded internationally. It is used widely in processed foods, cosmetics, and soaps — WWF estimates that palm oil is found in roughly half of packaged supermarket products. It is also increasingly used as a biofuel.
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But while palm oil is a highly efficient crop that generates income in regions where jobs may otherwise be scarce, surging production over the past 20 years has spurred strong backlash from environmentalists who note its expansion has consumed vast areas of rainforest in Malaysia and Indonesia, triggering substantial greenhouse gas emissions and putting endangered wildlife—including orangutans, pygmy elephants, Sumatran rhinos and tigers—at risk. Oil palm plantation development has also exacerbated social conflict in some areas.
The RSPO emerged as a response to these concerns. The body—which includes industry stakeholders as well as environmentalists and other groups—sets sustainability criteria for palm oil production. RSPO criteria include measures to reduce the use of fertilizers and pesticides, cut air and water pollution from palm oil production, establish “no burn” policies, and spare lands of high conservation value from development. The scheme counts more than 500 palm oil growers, processors and traders as members, as well as social and environmental NGOs.
In releasing 2010 production and sales data, the RSPO also announced that Darrel Webber would assume the help of the organization. Webber has previously worked in the private sector and with WWF-International.
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