Supporting green palm oil made easier

Responding to the palm oil issue is more complex for the beauty and personal care industry than for many others. Not only are palm oil, palm kernel oil, palm fractions and derivatives almost ubiquitous in finished products, but often even the formulator cannot be sure whether it is present in a specific ingredient, especially as it is not obvious from the INCI name. And yet, pressure is building on cosmetic brands to use sustainablyproduced palm products and to stop supporting the palm oil and palm kernel oil producers linked with deforestation, pollution, violation of human rights and threats to orang-utans and other endangered creatures. Organisations such as WWF and Greenpeace have brought the issue into the spotlight as they campaign for an end to unethical practices in the palm industry. Other campaigners call for products containing unsustainable palm products to be boycotted or for customers to demand change from brands. More pressingly, all major UK retailers have committed to use only sustainable palm oil and palm kernel oil by 2015 (in some cases, 2012), while the Netherlands as a nation has gone even further by pledging to outlaw unsustainable palm products by 2015. Where does this leave the manufacturers? Quite simply, if all parties stick to their deadlines, any manufacturer supplying retailers with own-label beauty and personal care lines will have to prove their supply of palm-derived products is certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in order to meet their requirements.

Sustainable palm oil: what is it and what is available?

The RSPO was established as a group of palm producers, growers, refiners and corporate users, to agree a set of principles and criteria, both environmental and humanitarian, that must be met for a producer’s output to be certified sustainable. Producers using sustainable methods approved by the RSPO volunteer to be audited by the RSPO, with the aim of gaining certification. This means complying with the principles and criteria, which include: new plantings; since November 2005 have not replaced primary forest or any area required to maintain or enhance one or more High Conservation Values; plans to reduce pollution and emissions, including greenhouse gases, are developed, implemented and monitored; children are not employed or exploited; no new plantings are established on local people’s land without their free, prior and informed consent; rare, threatened or endangered species must be protected from harm caused by palm oil farming and production. Producers certified by the RSPO are regularly audited to ensure continued compliance with the principles and criteria. Their output can then be sold as segregated, certified sustainable palm oil or palm kernel oil, or registered with GreenPalm to enable the trade of one certificate for each metric tonne.