Sustainable Palm Oil: Can RSPO Make a Difference?

Palm oil, an incredibly versatile and efficient vegetable oil, is found in countless products, from biscuits and chocolate to shampoo and biofuel. Its widespread use, however, has often come at a significant cost to the environment and local communities, leading to widespread concerns over deforestation, habitat loss for endangered species, and social injustices. In response to these pressing issues, organisations like the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) were established, aiming to transform the industry. But can such initiatives genuinely make palm oil sustainable, or is the challenge too immense?

The journey towards sustainable palm oil is complex, fraught with economic pressures, environmental imperatives, and social considerations. Understanding the mechanisms put in place by bodies like the RSPO, alongside the broader industry efforts, is crucial to appreciating the progress made and the considerable hurdles that still lie ahead. This article delves into the RSPO's approach, explores alternative strategies to boycotting, and examines the innovative solutions emerging from the industry to ensure palm oil's future is one that benefits both people and the planet.

The RSPO's Framework for Sustainable Palm Oil

Founded in 2004, the RSPO brought together stakeholders from across the palm oil supply chain – producers, processors, retailers, banks, and environmental and social non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Their primary goal was to develop and implement global standards for sustainable palm oil. To achieve this, the RSPO employs a robust, three-level structure for collecting and assessing data, providing a comprehensive overview of its impact and members' contributions to sustainability.

Levels 1 and 2 Data: The Foundation of Certification

These initial levels form the bedrock of the RSPO's data collection, stemming directly from its membership and intricate certification systems. This data provides real-time insights into the practices of certified palm oil producers and mills. It includes information on compliance with RSPO Principles and Criteria, which cover a wide range of sustainability aspects, such as:

• Commitment to transparency
• Compliance with applicable laws and regulations
• Commitment to long-term economic and financial viability
• Use of appropriate best practices by growers and millers
• Environmental responsibility and conservation of natural resources and biodiversity
• Responsible consideration of employees and of individuals and communities affected by growers and mills
• Responsible development of new plantings
• Commitment to continuous improvement in key areas of activity

The output of these levels serves as the basis for reporting on the RSPO's outcomes and impact as a certification standard, as well as highlighting the contributions of RSPO Members to the global sustainability landscape. A significant amount of Level 1 and 2 data has been collected to date, and the RSPO is actively collating this information into a coherent series of Impact Indicators. These indicators are designed to describe the RSPO's outcomes and impact in line with its 'Theory of Change', which is built upon three fundamental pillars: People, Prosperity, and Planet.

Level 3 Data: Corroboration and Enhancement Through Research

Level 3 data elevates the understanding of RSPO's impact through in-depth, commissioned, and independent research studies. This advanced data is crucial for corroborating and enhancing the narrative of the organisation's outcomes and impact. To drive the collection of this vital information, the RSPO has established a comprehensive Research Agenda. This agenda meticulously details priority research questions, designed to focus, inform, and coordinate the RSPO’s research work. Furthermore, it fosters collaboration with the wider research community, ensuring a robust, evidence-based approach to assessing sustainability.

The RSPO also works closely with various research institutions, contributing to independently conducted studies that offer unbiased perspectives on the efficacy of RSPO Certification. A full list of completed research, encompassing both RSPO-commissioned and independently conducted studies on the impact of RSPO Certification, is readily available in their Research Library, demonstrating a commitment to transparency and scientific rigour.

Why Boycotting Palm Oil May Not Be the Best Solution

For many concerned consumers and businesses, the immediate reaction to the environmental and social issues surrounding palm oil is to boycott it entirely. However, leading environmental organisations like the WWF argue that the boycott or substitution of palm oil (or other vegetable oils) does not offer long-term solutions to the challenges faced. In fact, replacing palm oil with other vegetable oils can, paradoxically, worsen the very problems it seeks to solve.

The Efficiency of Palm Oil

One of the key reasons is palm oil's unparalleled efficiency. The oil palm is by far the highest-yielding oil crop globally. Substituting palm oil with other commonly used oils—such as soybean, rapeseed, or sunflower oil—would necessitate significantly more land to produce the same volume. This increased land demand could potentially lead to even greater harm to wildlife, natural habitats, and the environment, as larger areas would need to be converted for agricultural use.

Shifting Demand, Not Solving the Problem

Secondly, switching from palm oil to alternative oils is likely to simply shift demand elsewhere. This means that the overall global demand for palm oil would not necessarily decrease. Instead, the demand might be met by less scrupulous producers in unmonitored markets, where sustainable practices are not prioritised or enforced. This outcome would undermine the efforts of organisations like the RSPO and the progress made by responsible producers.

Meeting Future Demand Sustainably

Finally, future demand for palm oil can be met without further forest and ecosystem conversion. This can be achieved notably by sustainably increasing productivity on existing plantations. Enhanced agricultural practices, improved seed varieties, and better management can lead to significantly higher yields from the trees already in cultivation. Furthermore, expanding plantations onto degraded land, rather than virgin forests, offers another viable path for growth without causing further environmental damage.

This is precisely why WWF, and many other environmental advocates, support and encourage the use of palm oil produced using responsible and sustainable practices. They advocate for companies to create, promote, and support innovative models of sustainable consumption and production. These actions should allow for multiple positive outcomes, including protection, production, and restoration. This can involve supporting better land use planning practices, investing in smallholder support programmes, and exploring sustainable landscape approaches that allow for multiple land-uses and include all relevant stakeholders, particularly local communities and smallholders. Rather than forfeiting leverage and allowing demand to simply shift to other products and markets, it is considered more productive to work collaboratively with the palm oil industry—and other vegetable oil sectors—to steer them towards a path of sustainability.

Improving Palm Oil Practices: From Farms to Jurisdictions

The push for sustainable palm oil isn't just about certification; it's about fundamental changes in how palm oil is produced and sourced. Instead of a blanket boycott, businesses are increasingly encouraged to procure their palm oil from demonstrably sustainable sources. The RSPO, since its inception in 2001, has been at the forefront of this movement, bringing together a significant portion of the industry to establish ethical and ecological standards for production.

Enhanced Agricultural Practices: Boosting Yields, Reducing Impact

A core tenet of sustainable palm oil production involves avoiding habitat destruction and instead focusing on increasing the yield from existing trees. Significant strides are being made in this area:

• Genetic Modification and Breeding: Attempts are continuously being made to breed from the most productive oil palm trees, and in some cases, genetically modify plantations to be more productive over time. This scientific approach aims to maximise output from a given land area.
• Optimised Fertiliser Use: There are big increases in yield to be had from changing the timing and application methods of fertiliser. Philip Taylor from the University of Colorado notes, "Right now the average yield in Malaysia and Indonesia is 18½ tons of fresh fruit bunches per hectare. In places with the best management practices, they’re already getting 30 tons per hectare." This highlights the immense potential for improvement through better management.

Developing on Non-Forest Land: A Crucial Strategy

Sustainable palm oil farms are also being developed on non-forest land in regions like Colombia. Here, local communities are being encouraged to cultivate palm oil as an alternative to illegal crops, providing economic opportunities without contributing to deforestation.

UK's Commitment and the Verification Challenge

In 2012, the UK Government set an ambitious commitment for 100% of the palm oil used in the UK to be from sustainable sources that do not harm nature or people. By 2016, 75% of total palm oil imports to the UK were reported as sustainable. However, a significant challenge remains: even when a palm oil mill labels its products as 'sustainable', it can be incredibly difficult to verify the truth of this claim. It's possible for oil to be labelled this way when only a tiny percentage of the palm fruits have actually come from a genuinely sustainable source. This issue, combined with the fact that certified palm oil is often more expensive than non-sustainable versions, clearly indicates that there's still a long way to go. Outside the EU, interest in buying sustainable palm oil over cheaper alternatives is often limited, which in turn restricts the overall effectiveness of the RSPO.

The Jurisdictional Approach: A Potential Game-Changer

While certifying individual plantations and mills has been the traditional approach, a new, broader strategy is gaining momentum: the jurisdictional approach. This involves efforts to certify entire districts or provinces as producers of sustainable palm oil. According to the RSPO, this could be a game-changer in significantly reducing deforestation, haze, and other environmental problems prevalent in Southeast Asia.

Palm oil plantations in the region have tripled in just a decade, contributing heavily to deforestation, habitat loss, and the displacement of communities across Indonesia and Malaysia, the world’s largest producers. The urgency for more sustainable production has been underscored by the regular blanketing of Southeast Asia in haze, caused by "slash and burn" forest fires and smouldering peat in Indonesia, where palm oil companies hold large forest concessions.

The jurisdictional approach seeks to address these issues by bringing provincial or district authorities together with communities to collectively decide which areas are to be set aside for conservation and which can be used for growing certified oil palm, as well as other commodities and food crops. Stefano Savi, Global Outreach Director at the RSPO, highlights key initiatives:

• Sabah, Malaysian Borneo: The RSPO is working with the government of Sabah, a state that produces 12% of the world’s palm oil. Sabah has proposed that all its production should be RSPO-certified by 2025. If successful, this would mark the first time a sub-national entity has committed to 100% certified palm oil production, representing a significant step towards a broader certification approach.
• Central Kalimantan, Indonesia: The government of Central Kalimantan province has also committed to developing a jurisdictional approach to the sustainable production of palm oil.

This broader approach holds particular benefits for smallholders, who produce up to 40% of the world’s palm oil. The current system of individual certification is often too costly and complex for them. A jurisdictional approach could streamline the process and make certification more accessible, integrating smallholders more effectively into sustainable supply chains.

Fighting Haze Through Certification

The impact of certification on environmental issues like the haze is becoming increasingly evident. Savi notes that the RSPO has been able to track the origins of the haze affecting Southeast Asia through online maps based on data from NASA and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Crucially, between January and August of a recent year, there were no fire alerts at RSPO-certified palm oil concessions, compared with 627 at those without certification. This demonstrates that RSPO principles, which include zero-burning methods on palm oil plantations, can play a significant role in fighting the haze problem in Southeast Asia.

Challenges and the Path Forward

Despite the significant efforts and progress, the path to fully sustainable palm oil remains challenging. The cost of certification and the difficulty in verifying the true sustainability of every batch of palm oil are considerable hurdles. Furthermore, the global market's preference for cheaper, non-certified palm oil, especially outside the EU, limits the effectiveness of sustainability initiatives.

However, demand for sustainable palm oil is undeniably on the rise, with approximately a fifth of the world’s palm oil now certified by the RSPO. A growing number of companies, both those supplying and purchasing palm oil (used in everything from shampoo to ice cream and even fuel), are realising that operating sustainably is no longer an option but a necessity for long-term viability. As Savi states, "Especially the larger companies understand that in 20 years from now, they’re going to have issues if they don’t operate sustainably."

While many pledges have been made regarding sourcing palm oil from plantations that avoid freshly cleared peat soils and forest land, or where worker and local community rights are upheld, these commitments still need to be consistently put into practice across the entire industry. The ongoing efforts of the RSPO, the adoption of innovative approaches like jurisdictional certification, and the increasing awareness among consumers and corporations are all crucial elements in driving this essential transition. The goal is not just to mitigate harm but to foster an industry that supports both economic prosperity and ecological health.

Comparing Approaches to Palm Oil Sustainability

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What exactly is the RSPO?

The RSPO, or Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, is a not-for-profit organisation that unites stakeholders from across the palm oil industry, including producers, processors, consumer goods manufacturers, retailers, banks, and environmental and social NGOs. Its primary mission is to develop and implement global standards for sustainable palm oil production and procurement, aiming to minimise the negative environmental and social impacts of palm oil cultivation.

Why is palm oil so controversial?

Palm oil's controversy stems primarily from its historical association with extensive deforestation, particularly in Southeast Asia, leading to significant biodiversity loss (including critical habitats for orangutans, elephants, and tigers) and increased greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of peatlands. Social issues, such as land disputes and poor labour practices, have also contributed to its controversial reputation.

Can I truly trust products labelled 'sustainable' or 'RSPO certified'?

While RSPO certification is a robust standard, challenges remain in ensuring 100% traceability and preventing instances of 'greenwashing' where only a small percentage of a product's palm oil is truly sustainable. However, the RSPO continually strengthens its standards and monitoring, and buying certified palm oil is currently the most effective way for consumers to support responsible production and exert pressure on the industry to improve.

What can I, as a consumer, do to help?

As a consumer, you can make a difference by actively seeking out products that use RSPO-certified sustainable palm oil. Look for the RSPO Trademark on packaging, or check company websites for their palm oil sourcing policies. Supporting companies committed to sustainable palm oil sends a clear message to the market that demand for responsibly produced goods is growing. You can also educate yourself further on the issue and advocate for stronger sustainability policies.

Is there enough sustainable palm oil to meet global demand?

Currently, certified sustainable palm oil accounts for approximately a fifth of the world's total production, and this proportion is growing. While significant progress has been made, there isn't yet enough certified palm oil to meet all global demand if every product were to switch immediately. However, ongoing efforts to increase yields on existing land, develop on degraded land, and expand certification schemes aim to bridge this gap and ensure that future demand can be met sustainably.

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