New certificates for sustainable palm oil

Source: http://www.businessgreen.com
A programme to allow large palm oil users to prove that they are supporting sustainable production methods has gone into operation this week. The scheme aims to allow large users - typically manufacturers and retailers of food - to buy GreenPalm certificates that have been registered by palm oil grower United Plantations following an extensive sustainability audit by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

"The GreenPalm scheme will enable United Plantations to earn valuable extra income, in direct proportion to their output of sustainable palm oil," said GreenPalm spokesman Bob Norman.

The RSPO measured United Plantations performance against a number of criteria, including legality of operations, economic viability, best practice in operations and environmental and social responsibility.

The company will now be audited annually if it wishes to continue to issue credits.

"This was certainly no "greenwash"; it could not afford to be if we are to achieve our objective of delivering sustainable palm oil," said Norman.

Several more palm oil producers are currently going through the audit process and hope to be certified soon.

Palm oil is used in a vast range of everyday products, including soaps, chocolate bars, ice cream, ready-to-eat meals and margarine.

It is a major source of income for both Indonesia and Malaysia's economies, particularly since EU biofuel targets led to increased growing of the crop in respose to demand from biofuel firms.

European consumption of plant-based fuels is expected to soar from around three million tons last year to more than 30 million tons in 2010.

However, major concerns have been raised about the sustsinability of increased demand for the crop with a number of investigations from environmental groups such as WWF and Friends of the Earth finding that large tracts of rainforest have been illegally cleared to make way for palm oil plantations.

Under such circumstances the carbon savings delivered by palm oil derived biofuels are completely negated as a result of the deforestation with one study claiming that the biofuel can result in levels of carbon emissions that are significantly higher than fossil fuels.

A number of UK firms, including supermarket giant Sainsbury's, have responded to the discovery by pledging to ensure that all the palm oil they buy is sourced from sustainable plantations that do not contribute to deforestation. The RSPO now hopes that sustainability certificates will provide them with a credible means of doing so.