About Palm Oil
What is Palm Oil?
Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil that comes from the fruit of oil palm trees. It’s cheap and efficient making it the world’s most widely used vegetable oil – and global consumption is rising.
Palm oil is used in the production of foods such as cake, chocolate, biscuits, margarine and frying fats. It is also found in cosmetics, soap, shampoo, and cleaning products. Up to 50% of products in an average supermarket now contain palm oil.
The growing palm oil industry and unsustainable production of palm oil is one of the "biggest threats" facing the forests and wildlife of places like Borneo and Sumatra – and demand is continuing to increase. We can make a big difference in protecting wildlife by tackling the issue of unsustainable palm oil production.
Forest habitats are being lost, animals are losing their homes and carbon is being released into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming. We’re working with partners all over the world to promote sustainable palm oil production but we can ALL do something to make a difference.
Why Not Boycott?
Although using other vegetable oils seems like a practical solution, it would actually create similar - if not even larger - environmental and social problems. Therefore, the best solution is to ensure you buy products that contain sustainable palm oil.
There is a misconception that these concerns can be addressed when companies simply stop using palm oil in their products. However, this is not as easy as it sounds for a number of reasons:
Replacing palm oil with other types of vegetable oil (such as sunflower, soybean or rapeseed oil) would mean that much larger amounts of land would need to be used, since oil palm produce 4-10 times more oil than other crops per unit of cultivated land. This would result in serious environmental damage, with the risk that more forests would need to be converted into agricultural land.
In producing countries, millions of farmers and their families work in the palm oil sector. Palm oil plays an important role in the reduction of poverty in these areas. In Indonesia and Malaysia, a total of 4.5 million people earn their living from palm oil production. Stopping the production of palm oil altogether would create significant problems for these people who support their families by working in this industry.
Replacing palm oil with other types of oil is not always feasible due to palm oil’s unique properties as a food ingredient. Using other oils would not give the products the same texture and taste that palm oil offers.
What Can You Do?
Start a palm oil awareness programme at your organization. This can include signage, staff talks, social media posts, education programmes, etc.
Increase your institution’s use of certified sustainable palm oil. Find out how here.
Spread palm oil messaging to other like-minded organisations.
Support on the ground reforestation or animal rehabilitation in areas affected by unsustainable palm oil
