With society becoming more aware of the impact palm oil plantations have on critical rain forests and peatlands throughout Indonesia and Malaysia, thankfully we are starting to ask producers and manufacturers more questions. When asking the majority of companies about their use of palm oil – companies state that they only use palm oil from RSPO (Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil) sources, or ‘sustainable’ sources or that their company is a member of the RSPO. Nothing more or less needs to be stated to put ones mind at ease.
But after working with several orangutan welfare organisations over the past 8 years and after spending time in Indonesia myself, I became increasingly aware that there is in fact no such thing as “Sustainable Palm Oil”. The following information, from the Palm Oil Action Group will give you an overview on sadly why this is the case.
The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil has developed and implemented some criteria for what it terms the sustainable production of palm oil. However, despite the best intentions of the RSPO there are many weaknesses, failures and conflicts of interest that leads me to believe that the RSPO in its current form is NOT part of the solution to providing sustainable palm oil.
Unfortunately the extent of the illegal and unethical practices as outlined below, as well as the lack of appropriate RSPO action on these breeches, concludes that the RSPO cannot be relied upon to take responsibility for ensuring that its members act legally, ethically or environmentally and socially responsible. The RSPO is merely an attempt to greenwash palm oil production to keep the industry growing at any cost – and until it is agreed to INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY sustainable palm oil plantations, being a member of the RSPO is no guarantee at all that the palm oil being used is sustainable, no matter what the companies wish you to believe.
BACKGROUND
The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil was formally established in April 2004. While positioning itself as an organisation representing both industry and environmental and social interests, the RSPO is dominated by corporations and other palm oil industry bodies, who make up over 90% of total membership, and who therefore entertain a massive voting majority within the structure of the RSPO. A primary aim of the RSPO is to ensure the continued expansion of the palm oil industry.
Although members of the RSPO make up an estimated total of 40% of the global production and use of palm oil, since the organization was established the clearing of primary forest and draining of peatlands to plant palm oil worldwide has accelerated rapidly, and RSPO members have been directly involved in this process. In this period, very little “sustainable” palm oil has been produced under RSPO processes.
MEMBERSHIP
Membership of the RSPO requires little quantifiable action on sustainability.
Membership can be purchased by any palm oil growers, palm oil processors and traders, consumer goods manufacturers, retailers, banks and investors, environmental conservation organizations and social development organizations. Applications must be approved by the RSPO Executive Board, which is also dominated by palm oil corporations or industry bodies.
There are no requirements upon members to have their palm oil plantations or mills audited or certified in any way. Members are simply required to comply with the RSPO Code of Conduct, which mostly contains broad statements of principles regarding sustainable practices, but without specific, quantifiable action.
CERTIFICATION
Members of the RSPO can seek to have their plantations and mills certified under RSPO processes. The RSPO Executive Board appoints the auditing bodies, and approves the certification. Audited members pay their auditors directly. Because suppliers, traders and retailers of certified palm oil will be able to receive a higher price for their certified product, and these very suppliers, traders and retailers have a clear voting majority within RSPO structures, there is a clear conflict of interest here. The certification process is far from independent.
Over and above this major flaw, the mechanics of the certification system itself is perceived to have major inadequacies:
- Given the product volumes involved, it is extremely difficult to properly audit the supply chain during the certification process, especially when the raw materials are originating from so many different sources.
- Under the RSPO system, companies can blend “sustainable” and “non-sustainable” oils at the mill level. This creates the perfect opportunity for misrepresentation.
- The mill, along with its directly-owned supply base, receives the certification. However the mill may continue to purchase palm oil from non-company, non-certified sources for a period of three years.
- The RSPO Principles and Criteria sometimes lack specific, quantifiable mandatory actions or targets, and are often vague.
- There are concerns regarding the trading of certificates in certified palm oil, particularly with regard to transparency within the RSPO-endorsed broker, GreenPalm, and also with regard to the ease at which companies purchasing these certificates can claim to be supporting RSPO-certified product.
ILLEGAL AND UNETHICAL PRACTICES BY RSPO MEMBERS
There are many documented (and many more alleged) examples of illegal and unethical practices by RSPO members. Most of these have involved clear breaches of RSPO Principles and Criteria.
These breaches have included alleged human rights violations against employees, alleged restrictions on union formation, alleged collusion with local police to arrest workers for organizing unions, the clearing of land in customary rights areas without prior consultation with the local community or any land acquisition process, the clearing of tropical rainforests without any approval or High Conservation Value assessments, and undertaking activities, such as clearing land and the use of fire, in contravention of local laws.
Importantly, despite the gravity of these actions, not one RSPO member has ever suffered any consequences whatsoever for these breaches. No financial penalties on members or expulsion from membership has ever occurred at the RSPO, and the companies responsible for these breaches have been permitted to continue to maintain their membership of the RSPO, and to use it to continue to claim that they are operating in an environmentally sustainable way.
USE OF THE RSPO NAME
The RSPO has positioned itself as an organisation working towards the sustainable production of palm oil.
For the many companies who use palm oil in their products, and for the consumers who buy those products, this is very important. If the companies and their customers believe that the palm oil being used has been produced in an environmentally and socially responsible way, then they will have no hesitation in continuing to use it.
Due to widespread publicity by groups such as Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, the Palm Oil Action Group and various others, there is now a much greater public awareness of the issues surrounding palm oil – consumers have been contacting their retailers, food manufacturing companies and bio fuel producers to express their concerns about the use of palm oil. To which the majority respond with a blurb about the RSPO.
But unfortunately, membership of the RSPO is no guarantee whatsoever for sustainable production, and in fact the very existence of the RSPO has in many ways actually been detrimental to forests, communities and species as it has led many to believe something is being done to protect them, when in fact quite the opposite is occurring. How can 300 football fields of Indonesian forest be decimated per hour in order to create “sustainable palm oil”? Any organisation that continues to allow deforestation at that extent is far from sustainable and this will only increase over time as the consumption of palm oil increases.
MOVING FORWARD
It is quite possible that many companies and most consumers are unaware of the issues mentioned above. But hopefully now you can see that there is no guarantee of sustainable palm oil, and there will not be until there are independently verified sustainable palm oil plantations.
In the mean time, please continue to ask questions from manufacturers and create awareness on the issues relating to “sustainable” palm oil. And most importantly, with very little authentic sustainable palm oil currently on the market, the only sound approach to take is to avoid palm oil altogether….
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
From what i’ve heard, there are problems with the RSPO. But i wonder about some points in the article:
1) the claim that there’s ‘no such thing as “Sustainable palm oil”‘ is very broad. what about oil produced on long standing plantations (ie no new deforested land)? what about palm oil obtained from farms that have existed for more than 100 years in Africa? what about palm oil certified by other agencies such as Eco-Cert, ProForest and Bio Suisse?
2) you say industry bodies make up over 90% of RSPO memberships, however according to the RSPO 25% are environmental/social
3) you tell us ‘There are no requirements upon members to have their palm oil plantations or mills audited or certified in any way.’ But in the very next paragraph you explain that the RSPO certifies and audits prospective members. Maybe you meant the RSPO doesn’t require extra certification and audits?
4) You ask the question ‘How can 300 football fields of Indonesian forest be decimated per hour in order to create “sustainable palm oil”?’ Obviously this isn’t sustainable. However, you say ‘members of the RSPO make up an estimated total of 40% of the global production and use of palm oil’. That means 60% comes from non RSPO companies. Given Indonesia and Malaysia produce around 85% of the world’s palm oil, doesn’t that leave enough room for non members to clear forest? According to the WWF, RSPO plantations can only be on land that hasn’t been converted since 2005.
5) RSPO members may be committing breaches. Whether any effective action is taken, at the very least they are breaches – that is, outside the framework of the RSPO. As you suggest, there needs to be real enforcement.
6) You say there are no ‘independently verified sustainable palm oil plantations’. It’s unclear what you mean by ‘independently verified’. Auditors are independent from the RSPO, although approved by them. While perhaps not ideal, is it that much different from CPAs approved by CPA Australia?