Retail giants accused of ignoring sustainable palm oil commitments

Despite significant progress, many supermarkets and food companies are failing to live up to commitments to purchase sustainable palm oil, with four-fifths of the sustainably certified palm oil currently on the market still unsold.

That is the conclusion of a major new report from environmental group WWF, which warns that efforts to produce palm oil that does not directly contribute to rainforest destruction are being undermined by limited demand for certified oil.

The Palm Oil Buyers' Scorecard assessed the performance of 59 European retailers and manufacturers and found that while more than half the companies have some sort of sustainable palm oil policy in place, and are either purchasing or planning to purchase sustainable palm oil, a sizable minority have no such commitments in place.

Twelve companies were given a ranking of zero, with high-profile firms such as Associated British Foods, Aldi and Spar International accused of making no attempts to curb the use of unsustainable palm oil, which is widely thought to contribute to rainforest deforestation in countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia.

WWF said that evidence from palm oil firms shows that demand for palm oil that is certified to have come from legal and sustainably managed plantations has increased. However, it found that only 19 per cent of the one million tonnes of palm oil that has been certified to date has been sold. As a result, plans to expand the market are in danger of collapse.

“We welcome the action of those companies that have moved toward buying certified palm oil – several of which are UK companies," said Adam Harrison, WWF’s senior policy officer for food and agriculture. "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 certified sustainable palm oil, 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."