The Malaysian government says it is assessing what action it should take to address ‘no palm oil’ labels in France and Belgium, the legal grounds for which have come under scrutiny.
Food manufacturers and palm oil producers could have a legal case against companies labelling products ‘palm oil free’, according to Paris-based lawyer Anne Bourdu.
RSPO-certified sustainable palm oil now accounts for 18% of the total global palm oil market, up from 15% last year, according to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).
Demand for the sustainable oil is rising faster than supply for the first time as total sales of Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO) reach more than 2.4 million metric tonnes (MT).
Mondelēz International has published a palm oil action plan promising to “prioritize” suppliers that meet its sustainability principles – something Greenpeace says is fundamentally flawed due to its definition of what a forest is.
Food businesses and consumers don’t understand the impact emerging economies could face if pressure to source 100% sustainable palm oil builds too quickly, Marks & Spencer’s (M&S) sustainable development manager Fiona Wheatley claims.
Sustainable palm oil trader GreenPalm will use this year’s European Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) Summit as a platform to urge key players in the EU palm oil industry to galvanise shared knowledge and promote sustainable sourcing.
Mars has committed to ending deforestation associated with its palm oil supply by the end of 2015, becoming the latest multinational to do so, alongside Unilever and Nestlé, among others.
While the debate about deforestation due to palm oil rumbles on, new research has suggested that the release of methane from palm oil processing wastewater may also be a significant concern.
Palm oil supplier IOI Loders Croklaan surpassed its goal to increase volumes of certified sustainable palm oil to 30% of total European sales last year – and has certified all its plantations to Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) standards.
Mondelez International reached its 2015 goal of sourcing 100% RSPO-certified palm oil for all its purchases last year – two years ahead of schedule, the company has said.
Hershey has committed to purchasing 100% traceable and sustainably-sourced palm oil by the end of 2014. Greenpeace has welcomed the move, but has reservations about timelines and terminology.
Many confectioners are sidestepping responsibilities on sustainable palm oil by only ensuring products meet ‘inadequate’ RSPO standards, according to Greenpeace.
Unilever and Ferrero both said they would strengthen their commitments to sustainable palm oil this week – a sign of an industry in transformation, according to Catapult, an organisation working to end trade in commodities linked to deforestation.
Deforestation, loss of habitats, social upheaval and vast swathes of smoke: there’s no doubt the palm oil industry is guilty of continuing atrocities against both planet and humanity.
French and German palm oil industries and users have joined a handful of other European countries in committing to source all palm oil sustainably with national pledges announced at the European Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) summit in Berlin...
A third consecutive fall in global food prices during the month of July was largely driven by lower international prices for grains, soy and palm oil, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The good news: Around 15% of global palm oil produced in the past year was certified by the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). The bad news: Only half of it earned a premium, which doesn’t sound like a great recipe for inspiring more producers...
A great deal of research and development is needed before the industry is able to reliably replace cocoa butter with an ingredient that completely matches it, warn researchers.
A Rainforest Foundation ethical food product guide based on companies’ palm oil use unjustly discourages the use of palm oil even if it is sustainably sourced, claims the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).
Food and drink production in the EU remained flat in the fourth quarter of last year as some raw materials became costlier, according to data from FoodDrinkEurope.
Norway’s US$710bn sovereign investment fund has pulled its investment from 23 Southeast Asian palm oil companies, claiming that they source palm oil unsustainably.
Barry Callebaut has announced that it is switching to Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certified palm oil for compounds and filling at most plants.
The Rainforest Action Network (RAN) has urged Cargill to take clear, decisive action to ensure its palm oil suppliers commit to sustainable production, while Cargill has said that RAN allegations of malpractice are unfounded and untrue.
The French Senate rejected its so-called ‘Nutella tax’ on Thursday, which aimed to quadruple the tax on palm oil, a key ingredient in the hazelnut-chocolate spread.
A proposed 300% increase on French palm oil imports could lead to increased consumption of harmful trans fats and ignores the primary sources of saturated fat in the French diet, says the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC).
Greenpeace has published a scorecard rating palm oil producers’ sustainability efforts, in order to provide food and other consumer goods companies with better information about how their palm oil is produced.
Big Interview: Dave McLaughlin, World Wildlife Fund
Food manufacturers are beginning to realize that buying more GreenPalm certificates now might be the only way to stimulate enough production of sustainable palm oil to make fully traceable products economically viable in future, says the World Wildlife...
The Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI) has withdrawn from the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which currently offers the only international audit scheme for producers of certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO).
A call from the Netherlands to end European import duty on sustainably produced palm oil has been welcomed by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). The proposal is designed to encourage the uptake of sustainable palm oil by offsetting some of...
The first one million hectares of certified land for sustainable palm production marks ‘a turning point’ for industry, according to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).
The palm oil labelling bill in Australia is entering its next phase, with the House of Representatives set to vote on whether it becomes law – and the current government saying it intends to oppose it.
Cargill has upped the ante in the sustainable palm oil stakes with a commitment that all palm oil products (excluding palm kernel oil products) it supplies to Europe, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand will be certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable...
An Australian bill requiring palm oil to be explicitly labelled has come in for harsh criticism from food industry representatives, after it was passed by the Senate last week.
Food manufacturers are using certified sustainable palm oil in their products – and making claims about it – when they are not members of the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and have not have their facilities RSPO audited and certified, one...
Forest fragmentation driven by demand for palm oil is having a catastrophic effect the level of biodiversity, and may be endangering certain species, according to scientists from the Queen Mary University of London.
A new deal is set to result in a huge injection of palm oil from certified sustainable sources into Europe and could spell the death knell for green certificates, said New Britain Palm Oil Limited.
Leading palm oil producer Sime Darby, looking to meet the increased global demand for the key component of many baked goods, is reported to be involved in an expansion project in Africa.
Market uptake of sustainable palm oil will need to accelerate in 2011 in order to keep up with rapidly growing production, claims the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).
Unilever said its deal with leading supplier, Unimills, for segregated certified sustainable palm oil represents a small start for the Dutch food and personal care group but takes the company in the right direction in terms of its 2015 total palm oil...
