Most UK palm oil buyers fail sustainability test

A handful of companies are showing real progress in their commitments to buy and use sustainable palm oil, yet the majority, contrary to their commitments, are failing to buy the product in spite of its availability. WWF’s Palm Oil Buyers’ Scorecard assessed the performance of 59 of the most prominent European retailers and manufacturers that buy and use palm oil in products ranging from chocolate bars and ice-cream to soaps and shampoos. No company achieved the maximum score of 29 points. Nearly half of the European companies assessed (25) are UK-based – and their performance varied considerably: • Seven UK retailers and manufacturers scored above 20 points, each showing they have the right policies in place, are monitoring their purchases of palm oil and starting to make good on the commitments that most of them have made to buy certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO). Each is also a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). • The majority (17) scored between five and 20 points. Those at the top end of this scale are showing encouraging signs, yet 12 of the 17 companies scored under 50% (14 points or less out of 29), suggesting they have yet to start dealing with palm oil consistently. • One UK company scored zero. Companies scoring zero are either showing no action on palm oil or even declined to respond to requests for information. These companies really need to up their game, and WWF is willing to help them do so. WWF opted to grade palm oil buyers after releasing figures in May this year which showed that only a small percentage of the sustainable palm oil available on the market had been bought. The situation is starting to improve slowly. Over the last year, RSPO certified plantations have produced over one million tonnes of certified sustainable palm oil, over 195,000 tonnes of which has been sold to date. While this still represents only 19% of the available supply, the RSPO has reported that CSPO sales have been growing in the past few months. The Scorecard comes a week before the world’s largest producers, buyers and traders of palm oil gather for the 7th RSPO in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. As such, the Scorecard provides a timely wake-up call to those who are failing to act, said Adam Harrison, WWF’s senior policy officer for food and agriculture: “We welcome the action of those companies that have moved toward buying certified palm oil – several of which are UK companies. But commitments are one thing, what’s needed now is action from all of them. “The top-scoring companies have shown what’s possible, with some buying fairly substantial quantities of CSPO, but now it’s a question of whether the majority will follow. If they do, it will transform the market, giving producers the confidence to grow more sustainable palm oil. If they don’t, there will be grave consequences for the environment.” The growing demand for palm oil is adding to the already severe pressure on remaining rainforest areas of the world. The loss of forest in Indonesia is threatening the survival of species such as the orang-utan, the Sumatran tiger, rhino and elephant. Forest loss and the draining of peatlands for palm oil plantations is also contributing to climate change and displacing local people who rely on the forest for food and shelter. Palm oil is one of the world’s fastest expanding crops in Southeast Asia as well as West Africa and South America. This European Scorecard is just the start of a process to bring more transparency to the global market for sustainable palm oil. In years to come, the Scorecard will set higher benchmarks – including more attention on the purchase of CSPO – and include countries like the US, China and India. WWF’s work on sustainable palm oil is part of its wider One Planet Food programme, which incorporates the whole food chain, from the production of commodities (like palm oil and soya) through processing and on to consumption and disposal. The goals of the programme are to radically improve the key environmental impacts of the food that is eaten in the UK, including our impact on the parts of the world richest in biodiversity. This is a complex task, and since 2008 WWF has been working in collaboration with scientists and key actors in the food system – businesses, policy makers, consumer organisations and other non-governmental organisations – to understand the impacts of the food consumed in the UK, whether grown here or imported from abroad. A summary of the Scorecard and results are available at: http://www.divshare.com/download/9023365-76c Palm Oil Facts • The oil palm tree originated in West Africa but it has been planted successfully in many tropical regions • Indonesia and Malaysia are the largest exporters of palm oil • Over 28 million tonnes of palm oil are produced worldwide and comprise a major food source all over the world. • Europe imports 4.7 million tonnes of palm oil annually, making it the third biggest market for palm oil in the world, after India and China. • Palm oil is used in 50% of all packaged food products sold by supermarkets • Palm oil can be found in food including margarine, cooking oil, crisps, cakes, biscuits and pastry • Palm oil may not always be listed as such on products, with companies using terms such as ‘vegetable fat’ and ‘vegetable oil’ instead • Palm oil derivatives are also found in cosmetics, soaps, shampoos and detergents. • Sales of palm oil in Europe have grown recently due to palm oil being an effective substitute for partially hydrogenated soft oils, such as those produced from soy oil, rapeseed and sunflower thereby eliminating trans-fatty acids from many products. • Certified Sustainable Palm Oil has been available since November 2008 Notes 1. The scoring of companies was a two-step process that took six months to complete. In the first step, WWF evaluated the performance of companies based on publicly available data, such as corporate sustainability reports. WWF then sent a preliminary score to each company with a package of information to brief companies about the Scorecard, including details of the project’s objectives and methodology. The companies were given the opportunity to submit additional information to WWF and a final score calculated. 2. WWF was a founding member of the RSPO, and has worked since 2002 with the palm oil industry to ensure that the RSPO standards contain robust social and environmental criteria, including a prohibition on the conversion of valuable forests. The RSPO brings together oil palm growers, oil processors, food companies, retailers, NGOs and investors to help ensure that no rainforest areas are sacrificed for new palm oil plantations, that all plantations minimize their environmental impacts and that basic rights of local peoples and plantation workers are fully respected. 3. The RSPO began in 2002 as an informal cooperation on production and usage of sustainable palm oil among Aarhus United UK Ltd, Golden Hope Plantations Berhad, Migros, Malaysian Palm Oil Association, Sainsbury’s and Unilever together with WWF. These organisations held the first Roundtable meeting in August 2003 in Kuala Lumpur in order to prepare the foundation for the organizational and governance structure that resulted in the formation of the RSPO. Since then the RSPO has grown to include more than 400 members between them accounting for more than 40% of global palm oil production. 4. WWF recognizes that palm oil is a basic foodstuff with high consumer demand. Europe imports 4.7 million tonnes of palm oil annually for food and soaps, making it the third biggest market for palm oil in the world, after India and China. In addition, palm oil is increasingly used to replace fossil fuels in the transport and energy sectors of (mainly) developed countries. Taking into account the growing demand for palm oil for bioenergy as well as traditional uses, the FAO estimates that palm oil production will double between 1999/2001 and 2030. 5. Despite having the highest yield per hectare of any oil or oilseed crop, it is recognized that there are environmental pressures on its expansion to eco-sensitive areas, particularly as oil palm can only be cultivated in tropical areas of Asia, Africa and America. Oil palm plantations have often imposed environmental and social costs due to indiscriminate forest clearing, loss of habitat important to threatened and endangered species such as orang-utan, elephants and tigers, uncontrolled burning with related haze, and disregard for the rights and interests of local communities. 6. The way we live is leading to environmental threats such as climate change, species extinction, deforestation, water shortages and the collapse of fisheries. WWF’s One Planet Future Campaign is working to help people live a good quality of life within the earth’s capacity. For more information visit www.wwf.org.uk/oneplanet

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