Somerset-Made Soap and Sustainable Palm Oil

The Somerset Toiletry Company’s Beginnings

Founded in 1999, serial entrepreneur Roger Buoy and aromatherapy expert Sakina Buoy identified a gap in the market to produce beautiful, honestly priced luxury toiletries. Following the initial success of producing body care for other companies, the business developed their own distribution range which can now be found in over 50 countries. Over the years the company has been recognised for many prestigious awards for business and design, including the Queens Award.

Somerset-Made Soap and Sustainable Palm Oil

Since unveiling the ‘Ministry of Soap Factory’ in 2021, The Somerset Toiletry Company mission has been to produce beautiful triple-milled soap with a minimal impact on the environment. A key part of this commitment is manufacturing all soap exclusively with RSPO-certified sustainable palm oil. The palm oil used is traceable from only two locations, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. The Somerset Toiletry Company’s supplier works directly with smallholder farmers to sustainably improve their palm oil yield whilst supporting with employment, housing, education, and medical facilities via the NBPOL foundation.

The best choice for the planet and the consumer

While the decision to use RSPO-certified sustainable palm-oil came with higher production costs, Sakina Buoy felt that it was a commitment her company had to make. With sustainably harvest palm oil being NINE times more productive than the next alternative, Sakina felt that the use of sustainable palm oil was the best choice for the planet and therefore the best choice for The Somerset Toiletry Company’s consumer.

The Somerset Toiletry Company’s trip to Papua New Guinea

In August 2023, The Somerset Toiletry Company visited the plantations and tribes in the heart of Papua New Guinea that cultivate their sustainable palm oil in harmony with the surrounding ecosystem and wildlife. The company was thrilled to see first-hand the effort their supplier puts into producing palm in a sustainable way, supporting native people and the environment in PNG. It saddens Sakina to know that many companies do not actively promote the use of RSPO-certified palm oil due to the controversy surrounding the subject. The trip only solidified The Somerset Toiletry Company’s commitment to sustainably sourced palm oil and the business will continue to promote its use going forward. 

Highly Contested Palm Oil

Since last decade, public debate in Europe has raised concerns about the effects of oil palm monoculture farming in Indonesia on deforestation, biodiversity loss, and social problems that arise from violations on the environment, human rights and indigenous land rights. As most of the world’s palm oil is produced in Indonesia where oil palm cultivation provides a livelihood for 16 million smallholders, workers and their families, the issue is highly contested. The critique has focused on the perceived problems, most notably the dangers to local communities and global climate crisis. This has led to the European Union (EU) decision to restrict palm oil imports for biofuels, and concurrently, Indonesia filing a trade dispute at the World Trade Organization, where consultations are still ongoing. The dispute has affected Indonesia-EU relations, leading to a slow progress in negotiations launched in 2016 for the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), a prospective Indonesia-EU free trade agreement. The more recent debate centers on the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) and is held up by different stakeholders, including the EU bodies and European non-governmental organizations (NGO). 

Debating Good and Bad Palm Oil

In our research project Good and bad palm oil (utu.fi), we aim to combine the perspectives of different stakeholders in Indonesia and Europe to understand how the trade dispute and global geopolitics are changing the opinions, context, and discourse on palm oil.  While existing research concerns the impact of oil palm expansion on local communities in Indonesia and stakeholder relations at the local and provincial level, our purpose is to expand the context and look at the opinions, debates and narratives on palm oil at multiple levels. Therefore, a multi-scalar approach offers a way to examine the positions of the various stakeholders ranging from the grassroots to local, provincial, national, and international levels, in the discourse. The debate is understood as a process of bargaining on the different aspects and impacts of oil palm farming and our aim is to identify the “good and bad” aspects of palm oil in the arguments and to examine power relations amongst the stakeholders.

Indonesian and European voices

Palm oil research team Ratih Adiputri, Erja Kettunen-Matilainen and Ayu Pratiwi at Universitas Airlangga

We recently had the opportunity to introduce the project at the 13th International Convention of Asia Scholars at the Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya ICAS 13 – 2024. Drawing on information from stakeholder interviews, publications and online news archives, our tentative findings indicate the diverse arguments on the impacts of oil palm farming. Recent opinions voiced by European NGOs focus on pushing strongly for the EU deforestation regulation, whereas a number of international NGOs push for the improvement of palm oil sustainability standards. Since these are expected to have significant impacts of Indonesian as well as Malaysian exports, the issue is currently being negotiated in a joint task force by Indonesia, Malaysia and the EU, with the aim of reaching a solution acceptable to all.

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This blog post is based on the palm oil research project by research team Erja Kettunen-Matilainen, Ayu Pratiwi and Ratih Adiputri, led at the University of Turku, Finland, and funded by Kone Foundation (2023-2027).

Cast your mind back to autumn 2018. Like me, you probably all saw, or at least heard about the Rang-Tan advert – an animated film made by Greenpeace, spreading the word about destructive palm oil. Iceland wanted to use the film as part of its Christmas advertisement and pledged to remove palm oil from all its brand products. As well as telling consumers what it intended to do, it also invited consumers to buy little orangutan toys for £5 a throw, the proceeds going to help save these critically endangered creatures. Along with thousands of others, I bought one and vowed to go palm oil free too. Except neither of us did. Iceland couldn’t keep to its pledge. A BBC article in January 2019 found that Iceland removed its label from 17 of the products they sold, simply because they couldn’t. They said “it was not possible to remove palm oil at a manufacturing level in these products by 31 December 2018”.

Business Breakfast Meeting Newquay

Palm oil free?

Initially, I vowed to go palm oil free too, until I realised that in attempting to do so I wasn’t actually doing anything to mitigate the problem. All I was actually doing was making myself feel good. What was clear, from the reading and research I was doing was that my palm oil boycott wasn’t going to make a jot of difference. It was time to rethink.

Impact Score App

As consumers, we can all help collectively, by demanding that the supermarkets and shops we use more actively publicise the products they sell that contain sustainable palm oil. In the UK, we can download the app from Impactscoreapp (Impact Score Apps), which scans products to see whether they contain sustainable palm oil. This way, we can avoid buying any products containing uncertified unsustainable palm oil.

I resolved to do what I could to make a difference. As an ex teacher, I was often asked to help in my 8 year old grandson’s class. Coincidentally, in 2018, around the same time as the Rang Tan advert appeared, his year group was involved in a project called ‘Our Deadly Planet’ and part of their study covered deforestation – it was perfect timing. With the research, I had done and the knowledge about the app Impactscoreapp, which scans products to see whether they contain sustainable palm oil.

I delivered lessons and then assemblies to his class, his year group and then the whole school about palm oil and the difference we could all make by choosing sustainable palm oil when we shopped. It wasn’t long before families in Newquay were downloading the app and the founders, Jo and James Hand, noted a real uptake in users. It was a powerful moment. I knew that more could be done to raise awareness in the town and we could follow in the footsteps of Chester, who achieved Sustainable Palm Oil City status in May 2019.

Support from Sir David Attenborough

Together, with another likeminded Newquay citizen, we set up social media pages and armed with determination and tenacity, I approached Newquay Zoo, to encourage them to get involved in making the town a sustainable palm oil community. I was thrilled when they agreed and since then, we have been working towards achieving sustainable palm oil status, with local businesses and the Town Council happy to come on board. Sir David Attenborough wholeheartedly supports what we’re aiming to achieve. In a letter, written November 2019, although he turned down the invitation to be our patron, he wished us every success with our campaign. To have received such support from one so venerable, was a special moment indeed. We’re not there yet. Covid put things on hold, but we’re well on the way to becoming an Sustainable Palm Oil Community and I’m proud to be involved.

Photo credit: CAN Borneo

Ah…another International Orangutan Day has arrived. I can’t remember precisely how many years ago that we at Orangutan Land Trust along with other orangutan conservation organisations around the world created International Orangutan Day to heighten awareness about orangutans. But this year, as I embarked on writing this piece, I had to ask myself, “What can I say this year that I haven’t already said for so many years running?” I sought inspiration from one of our lead Scientific Advisors, who offered me some ideas that ran along the lines of all the things that are going wrong in orangutan conservation and have been for some time. I replied that I was looking for something “a bit more upbeat” to celebrate the day. And here, my articulate and insightful friend found himself stumped. Nonetheless, via a chat app, we challenged ourselves to dig deeper for ideas, some of which I will share here.

What IS working in orangutan conservation?

Long-term committed management in orangutan habitat fragmented by oil palm works, as demonstrated in particular by the work being done in the Kinabatangan landscape in Sabah. This undertaking by palm oil growers and NGOs to improve connectivity for orangutans, elephants and other species can be said to be the jewel in the crown. But currently, this cannot be taken to scale easily because there are neither enough NGOs nor is there enough funding.

Citizen science

What IS especially needed for upscaling is new approaches in management from government, businesses and communities. Citizen science is an effective emerging tool in the conservation of orangutans. Borneo Futures have lead the way in developing and piloting this biodiversity monitoring tool for agribusiness. They’ve been collaborating with an Indonesian palm oil company which has over 1200 active citizen scientists who have, thus far, recorded over 125,000 wildlife observations. “The resulting data is of high enough quality to guide conservation management. This approach could save companies significant time and money in comparison to traditional methods where small teams of conservation specialists attempt to record species data for large areas. More importantly, this method invites personal interest in conservation and makes company staff proud to play a role in biodiversity management.”

The importance of real biodiversity monitoring in plantations

The importance of real biodiversity monitoring in plantations cannot be over-emphasised. Sadly, very few companies go beyond simply marking whether orangutans (or other species) are present (or absent). But you cannot manage on the basis of absence and presence. I.e., if something was present during the HCV assessment and then at some stage becomes absent, you are too late to intervene by definition. Hence the importance of quantitative monitoring. This is possible with techniques like camera traps, but much cheaper using citizen science.

Quantitative monitoring of orangutans

Quantative monitoring of orangutans means that dependable and accurate biodiversity valuation can take place. The above company has commissioned biodiversity valuations for three of their estates so far. One of their estates (with orangutans) has a value of $197 million. This is the value that biodiversity in that estate contributes to society over a 30-year time-frame. Certainly incentive for a grower to manage and, if possible, enhance their HCV areas! A long cry from the early days of oil palm expansion in places like Borneo, where bounties were paid on the heads of dead orangutans. Another positive change for orangutans is that there is less oil palm expansion resulting in less deforestation and habitat loss in Indonesia.

Oil-palm driven deforestation

There has been a significant decline in oil-palm driven deforestation in Indonesia over the last several years, but it did start to rise again in 2023. The biggest gains to be made for orangutans are in areas that have been allocated for oil palm development but not yet converted. If CSPO companies develop these areas, there will have to be large set asides. If conventional oil palm runs the show, it can be assumed that they will just clear the forest, unless the government prohibits this. Despite declining rates, deforestation does remain a critical issue, not only for oil palm but for other activities (notably mining of nickel and other substances).

“Palm-oil free”

New research on the role of sustainable palm oil in meeting global vegetable oil demand underlines yet again that choosing sustainable palm oil is a better option for the future of orangutans than going “palm free.” The latest IUCN report, Exploring the Future of Vegetable Oils, the authors showed that oil demand is growing and needs to be met. Palm oil currently has to play a role because of its lower land requirements. Fortunately, there is now such thing as deforestation-free palm oil and if growers adhere to RSPO standards, then any expansion should avoid deforestation. Avoiding deforestation in orangutan habitat regions is, of course, paramount to their survival.

Guidance of leading conservation experts

A personal and non-scientific assessment of media and social media seems to indicate that companies and consumers are increasingly adopting the guidance of leading conservation experts and organisations to choose sustainable palm oil over a blanket boycott. Orangutan Land Trust is particularly active in using social media and traditional media to bring nuance to the discussion of sustaianble palm oil and its role in protecting orangutans. We’ve noted a marked decrease in the number of tweets, for example, that urge people to boycott palm oil to save wildlife – mostly only one account holder and her 3-4 devoted followers who retweet the same handful of misinformed tweets daily. We see far more posts on social media exploring the idea of sustainable palm oil as a solution. We believe a lot of this is down not to just our outreach but the outreach done by a number of zoos, NGOs, academic instutions and credible individuals like Dr Jane Goodall.

Sustainable Palm Oil Communities

The Sustainable Palm Oil Communities campaign led by Chester Zoo continues to go from strength to strength. More and more companies and institutions are signing up, Jane Goodall has endorses the Dorset Sustainable Palm Oil Community and outreach events are regularly held. I recently visited my local zoo, Twycross Zoo, where an animatronic orangutan drew in visitors of all ages to learn about orangutans and sustainable palm oil. Newquay Supports Sustainable Palm Oil continues to bring together zoos, schools, universities and businesses, a campaign supported by none other than Sir David Attenborough.

Palm oil pledge

Other NGOs are also doing their part to encourage people to choose sustainable palm oil to save orangutans. The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation has created a “Palm Oil Pledge” urging people to sign on to “Encourage more businesses to use sustainably sourced palm oil by increasing the demand for it” and “Show your commitment to support palm oil farmers who have put sustainable farming practices in place.”

Celebrities on palm oil

A new campaign by Rewriting Earth and Make My Money Matter, with partners Global Canopy and Global Witness, called Saving Jane is endorsed by Jane Goodall and Peter Gabriel (Gabriel recorded a piano version of his hit ‘Red Rain’ especially to accompany the video.) The campaign intends to encourage pension companies not to invest in projects that destroy climate-critical forests, and wreak havoc on the lives of people who depend on these precious ecosystems. This underlines the importance of the financial sector’s role in driving out deforestation and biodiversity loss. “Ozi, Voice of the Forest,” an animated film produced by Leonardo DiCaprio & Mike Medavoy, is being released in cinemas this month. This is the story of Ozi, an orphan orangutan who uses her influencer skills to save her forest and home from deforestation. We hope that this film will help raise awareness about the plight of the orangutan, but more importantly, drive people to take action.

What ISN’T working in orangutan conservation

So what ISN’T working in orangutan conservation? Or is, at least, not working as well as we’d like? Some ongoing practices are not as effective as we once thought they would be. For example, removing orangutans from one landscape and transferring them to another is not always the best solution for orangutans found in fragmented or degraded areas. Certainly there are cases where individual orangutans would almost certainly die if such an intervention does not take place, and transfer to a rescue centre or alternative location may be necessary, if only in terms of the welfare of that animal.

Julie Sherman

However, according to a report by Julie Sherman, et al. in Journal for Nature Conservation in 2020, “Welfare and conservation outcomes of removing wild orangutans for translocation have been little studied despite regular use. The potential risks to released animals’ welfare and to the conservation of resident wild populations are high, and the current practices of ad hoc release site selection and of releasing orangutans into viable wild populations do not meet IUCN guidelines to avoid endangering wild conspecifics. Studies are urgently needed to determine translocated orangutan welfare and survival rates, and impacts to resident conspecifics and rescue habitats. Similarly, further study of longer term impacts of ex-captive orangutan reintroductions/reinforcements are needed to understand welfare impacts and effectiveness in establishing self-sustaining viable populations.”

Accommodate wild orangutans where they are found

At Orangutan Land Trust, guided by research and data from our Scientific Advisory Board and beyond, we have long argued that the first goal in the conservation of orangutans in areas impacted by human activities is to find ways to accommodate these wild orangutans where they are found. While we do offer some funding to support the rescue of orangutans in very dire circumstances, unlike many other orangutan NGOs, we believe that driving practices and policies and supporting initiatives that protect and enhance orangutan habitat, allowing the orangutans to remain in situ is the best use of our efforts and our limited funding. Our funds also support community engagement, education and outreach, conservation research, fire-fighting and prevention and peat and forest restoration, amongst other activities. But more funds are desperately needed if we are to continue to make a real difference.

Funding critical activities in the field

Our !% for the Planet partners, most notably long-time supporters GoodLight Natural Candle, help to ensure that we can continue to fund critical activities in the field. Two recipients of this funding are CAN (Conservation Action Network) Borneo and Borneo Nature Foundation. Our collaboration with CAN Borneo has helped to encourage the establishment of five village forests in East Kalimantan as part of efforts to recognize the rights of communities to the forests around them so that orangutan protection and habitat conservation efforts can be implemented at the grassroots level. These five village forests are located along the Kelay River basin to protect 23,000 hectares of habitat for 186 orangutans, whose ecosystems consist of lowland forests and karst areas. This collaboration involves supporting the local economy around these areas by working together to develop sustainable plantations and tourism, including creating products with economic value in the market. This is done to reduce the conversion rate of orangutan habitats.

Our collaboration with Borneo Nature Foundation

Our collaboration with Borneo Nature Foundation in Central Kalimantan also helps to encourage and support community members to develop sustainable income sources, including permaculture and aquaculture initiatives, and to adopt peat-friendly land management practices. Five villages have continued to engage with BNF’s sustainable livelihoods programme in the Sebangau region, monetising a wide range of activities from honeybee cultivation to basket weaving. We also supported BNF’s efforts to build firefighting and patrol capacity. This included a network of eight community-led firefighting and patrol teams with 135 firefighters throughout the Sebangau region. Thanks to the dedicated and collaborative effort of the National Park authorities, CIMTROP and the community firefighting teams patrolling the forest and extinguishing flames, the Sebangau National Park experienced no primary forest loss.

How can you help?

There is still a great deal of work to be done and a great deal of funding needed to do it. But we can all play a part, with or without money. Individuals can choose sustainably produced products and encourage companies and governments to put a stop to those products that are linked with deforestation. All stakeholders along the supply chains of commodities coming from Indonesia and Malaysia need to commit to NDPE (No Deforestation, No conversion of Peat, No Exploitation), including financial institutions. Efforts like the ones I’ve described have shown that it can be done, but if we are to save the orangutan, these efforts need to be scaled up enormously, and soon. Join us in being part of the solution.

Choosing sustainable palm oil: consumers have become more aware of the need to pick certified products. Tools to help them navigate the thousands of products which may contain palm oil are being developed. The latest is the PalmOil Scan app, produced under the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) and lead by Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, Chester Zoo, and Auckland Zoo. It allows consumers to scan the bar-code of a product to check if the product you are about to purchase is “orangutan friendly” and certified sustainable by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil.

Palm Oil Scan App – Sustainable shopping in the palm of your hand.

From scrutiny to nuance

In recent years, the palm oil industry in Indonesia has faced intense scrutiny and criticism, primarily concerning its impact on deforestation and the environment. Activists, both domestically and internationally, have often resorted to calls for boycotts of bulk commodities (including palm oil) as a solution to deforestation, driven by the belief that the industry is the primary driver of this issue. However, as we delve into the complexities of land use, rights, and deforestation, it becomes clear that this problem requires a more nuanced and informed approach.

International Conference on Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation

The 4th International Conference on Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation (ICNREC) seeks to provide a platform for evidence-based discussions on the complex issue of deforestation. It aims to explore the intricacies of land use and its relationship with the palm oil industry. By fostering collaboration between experts, policymakers, and industry leaders, ICNREC offers a chance to develop comprehensive solutions that are rooted in science and sensibility.

Multitude of factors contributes to deforestation

A critical perspective, as presented in my keynote presentation for ICNREC, questions the effectiveness of (bulk) commodity boycotts as a means to address deforestation. History has shown that these calls to action tend to oversimplify the problem, creating an illusion that the target commodity is the sole cause of deforestation. The reality is far more complex, with a multitude of factors contributing to deforestation, including issues related to land rights, land use, and economics.

Indonesia’s declining deforestation rate

The analysis of Indonesia’s declining deforestation rate after 2016 demonstrates that commodity boycotts have not played a significant role in reducing deforestation. This evidence suggests that a more comprehensive approach is needed to address this multifaceted challenge. The palm oil industry, which plays a significant role in Indonesia’s economy and global trade, cannot be dismissed as the sole villain without considering the broader context.

OSINT for forests

This perspective highlights the importance of credible and accurate information. Rather than resorting to oversimplified solutions, it is essential to promote and invest in open-source intelligence (OSINT) tools that provide accurate data to guide sustainable practices and decision-making. By leveraging such tools, we can better understand the dynamics of land use, land rights, and their impact on deforestation.

Challenges and opportunities

It is clear that Indonesia’s palm oil industry is at a crossroads, facing both challenges and opportunities. As the world continues to demand vegetable oils, including palm oil, Indonesia’s role as a major producer cannot be underestimated. With the right approach, it is possible to balance the economic benefits of the industry with environmental sustainability.

As Indonesia strives to meet the European Union Deforestation-free Regulation (EUDR) requirements, it is essential to approach this challenge with a clear understanding of the nuances involved. The palm oil industry must be part of the solution, rather than solely bearing the blame. With the right data, policies, and collective efforts, Indonesia can move toward a more sustainable future for its palm oil industry while ensuring the preservation of its valuable natural resources.

Call for evidence-based decision-making

Thus, the palm oil debate requires a balanced and informed perspective. It’s time to move beyond the oversimplification of the issue and embrace science and sensibility to drive sustainable practices in the palm oil industry. Indonesia’s economic growth and environmental conservation can coexist, but it demands a holistic approach and a commitment to accurate information and evidence-based decision-making.

Pardon? What on earth is the Dorset Sustainable Palm Oil Community? You don’t grow oil palm in Dorset do you? 

In Autumn 2021, Efeca launched the Dorset Sustainable Palm Oil Community (DSPOC).  We had run the UK Sustainable Palm Oil Initiative for many years, supporting UK businesses in developing sustainable supply chains of palm oil (and before that, had run the Central Point of Expertise on Timber which had included sustainable palm oil in its remit). During the pandemic, we decided we wanted to do something practical, on the ground, local and positive. 

The idea of DSPOC all started with a conversation or two with Cat Barton from Chester Zoo. Chester Zoo had been incredibly successful a couple of years before with their first Sustainable Palm Oil City where they made Chester the world’s first sustainable palm oil city, and have embarked on a mission to expand the initiative to other communities – now including Dorset.  

Whilst our behaviour change and awareness raising campaign followed the same format at Chester Zoo’s initial trail-blazing project, DSPOC is on a much bigger scale. It is still the only county-wide project in the world, covering over 2,600 km² of area, with over ¾ million people living in Dorset (including Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole). 

Along with 6 other communities (Mochdre, Newquay, Oxford, Hull and East Riding, Blackpool and Chester), DSPOC is all about supporting local businesses and organisations – whether they are cafes, restaurants, fast food outlets, large businesses, tourist attractions, councils, hospitals or schools – to make the switch to sustainable palm oil in the food they use, serve and sell. After firstly pledging to become a sustainable palm oil champion, companies identify conventional palm oil in food products by asking their suppliers and then make the switch to a 100% certified sustainable alternative.

Ahh, so it isn’t about growing oil palm, but demanding certified sustainable palm oil? 

Exactly! Our aim is to become the world’s first sustainable palm oil county. 

Since the start of the project, we regularly connect with over 700 people each month through our monthly update newsletter, and have been featured in over 30 newspaper and magazine articles. 

And I hear you have a famous Ambassador? 

We currently have 46 pledged and fully fledged champions, and our 20 Ambassadors, including the world renowned conservationist Dr Jane Goodall, DBE, Founder of Jane Goodall Institute, and UN Messenger of Peace. 

To become the world’s first sustainable palm oil country, we need a total of 50 champions to sign up, across various categories. Our infographic shows that we are almost there – we need a few more sign ups, particularly from the hospitality sector and workplaces over 20 people – but I feel our biggest impact has been not in the number of businesses who have signed up, but in the number of people we have talked to face-to-face who now know that boycotting palm oil isn’t the solution, and that demanding certified sustainable palm oil is something we can all do.  

So, how many have you talked to? 

We have calculated it to be almost 1,900 people at various events throughout Dorset – talking so much, that we have lost our voice. The Efeca dog, Bert has been at many of them too.  

Contact for more information

For more information on the sustainable palm oil communities, how to get involved, or how to set up your own community (village, town, city, or county), contact me on: lucy.cullinane@efeca.com / dorsetsustainablecommunity@efeca.com

Nutella. Rainforest deforestation. Unhealthy. These are the words most often associated by German consumers with the term ‘palm oil’. Amidst the predominantly negative discourse, terms like ‘highest yielding’ or ‘most efficient vegetable oil’ rarely enter the conversation. While mismanaged oil palm cultivation can indeed have detrimental socio-ecological impacts, the benefits of palm oil, and more importantly, its comparative performance to other vegetable oils, should not be outright dismissed. However, consumers in western palm oil importing countries do not seem convinced. Overwhelmingly negative sentiments persist even when informed that replacing all palm oil with soybean oil, the second-highest yielding vegetable oil, would require six to eight times the amount of land to meet the increasing demand.

Consumer perceptions are binary

Despite the provision of information treatments, consumers tend to remain skeptical when it comes to understanding how sustainably produced palm oil does not always fare worse than other vegetable oils including soybean, sunflower or rapeseed oil. This alludes to the fact that current consumer perceptions about the sustainability of palm oil are rooted in binary notions (unsustainable vs. sustainable) rather than being able to take on an evaluative role in navigating the varying sustainability trade-offs from different vegetable oils, while also considering the global reality of supply and demand. The prevalence of negative sentiments towards palm oil may still be a relic of past campaigns. Especially in western palm oil importing countries, these were visually striking and emotionally engaging, often involving orangutans as iconic species symbolizing the palm oil industry impact on habitat destruction, biodiversity loss and deforestation.

‘Free from palm oil’ claims

Nonetheless, these past perceptions may not be fully reflective of the progress and development that has happened in the certified palm oil sector. This is exacerbated by the more widespread use ‘free from palm oil’ claims compared to labels indicating the use of certified sustainable palm oil, such as from the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). This in turn fosters a climate in which consumers show more trust towards products with unregulated free from claims than towards third-party sustainability organisations. 

From skepticism towards solutions

While skepticism towards third-party certification organisations can, to an extent, be justified, it risks leading to misleading conclusions about a product’s sustainability and fuels uncertainty in decision-making. This calls for solutions that are transparent and interoperable across private and public sectors. For consumers, a composite and holistic eco-label would not only be more sensitive to differences in production systems but could also alleviate bewilderment among consumers who are trying to navigate and make sense of all the available product labels and claims they are confronted with on a daily basis. Nonetheless, given the plethora of labels, varying in scope and complexity, consumer interventions need to be supplemented with initiatives throughout different levels of the science-policy interface. With the adoption and implementation of the EU’s corporate sustainability due diligence laws, supply chains, including those of palm oil’s, will be put under increased scrutiny. Such top-down policies, coupled with consumer-focused mechanisms, invite more transparency in aligning the perceived with the actual environmental performance of production systems, supply chains and products, so that alternative vegetable oils are not falsely glorified.

The European Union (EU) and Indonesia have a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement in force since 2014 providing a basis for regular political dialogue and sectoral cooperation. The agreement gives a legal framework for collaboration in a variety of policy fields, including trade, political dialogue and human rights. The two parties have also launched free trade negotiations in 2016 with the aim to deepen trade and investment relations through a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). The CEPA would facilitate trade by removing and reducing tariffs and non-tariff barriers, and would cover a broad range of issues such as trade in services, intellectual property rights and provisions for sustainable development.

CEPA negotiations

However, questions surrounding palm oil have challenged the CEPA negotiations. Indonesia is the world’s biggest producer of palm oil, a commodity widely used in the production of food ingredients, non-food consumer products, and biofuels. Whereas palm oil provides a livelihood for 16 million Indonesian smallholder farmers, workers, and their families, it also accelerates deforestation and biodiversity loss, threatens endangered species, and violates indigenous land rights and human rights.

Public debate in Europe

Therefore, public debate in Europe has raised concerns about the adverse effects of oil palm monoculture farming. Discussion has centered on limiting palm oil use and has been held up by consumers, governments, and non-government organizations (NGO) alike. The critique has been evident also in Finland where newspapers have frequently listed consumer products containing palm oil. The World Wildlife Fund has held up the quest for joint responsibility concerning Europe’s contribution to tropical deforestation and the attaining of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

This resulted in the European parliament decision in 2018 to ban the use of palm oil in biofuels in the EU. As a response, Indonesia filed a lawsuit against the EU at the World Trade Organization, with final report from the dispute settlement body expected in late 2023. Yet it was noted that the European parliament decision had been affected not only by NGO critique but also by European vegetable oil producers that had been lobbying the EU institutions. The issue of palm oil is thus highly contested.

It must be noted that together with China and India, the EU is one of the biggest importers of palm oil from Indonesia. Contemporary geopolitical developments are challenging agricultural trade not only in palm oil but in staple crops, thus severely affecting food security in the Global South. The Russian attack war in Ukraine has complicated global food provision by disrupting supply chains with damaging consequences to global food systems.

New research project: Good and Bad Palm Oil

This is the context and starting point of our recently launched research project Good and bad palm oil. Food security, paradigm shift and bargaining among stakeholders in Indonesia and the EU.

In the project we are interested in the viewpoints on palm oil of different stakeholders ranging from smallholder farmers to NGOs and regional, national and global policymakers. We aim to understand how the views are shaped by institutions and values, how the policies are affected by power relations, and how the changes in the debates are driven by new information on environmental and social challenges and Agenda 2030 SDGs.

For example, recent research concludes that dismantling oil palm farming could lead to even quicker deforestation by switching the farms to other vegetable oils, such as rapeseed or sunflower that require more land, water and fertilizers. Further, as noted by researchers, boycotting palm oil may indicate hypocritical double standards: why not boycott coffee, cocoa and chocolate too, as their farming has comparable effects.

Therefore, we need to understand the broad context as well as the parallels and contradictions in the viewpoints, and how contradictions could be mitigated. It will be important to identify the positions taken by different stakeholders from the grassroots level to the global trade regime level on the “good and bad” of palm oil in order to find solutions that increase global food security and at the same time, help reach Agenda 2030 goals.

Since 2019, China Dialogue has examined whether the major palm oil markets can grow without increasing emissions and harming biodiversity. We have strived, through our reporting, to encourage open dialogue, amplify marginalised voices and produce unbiased, in-depth coverage of the challenges and opportunities of the global palm oil industry. This includes building support for the global shift towards sustainable palm oil.

As an organisation China Dialogue is dedicated to advancing climate action through promoting understanding of climate change and our planet across barriers of language and culture. We broadly cover topics of climate, nature, food, energy, and sustainable development, and believe that our multilingual, multicultural platform has a unique role to play in raising awareness of these issues.

Pros and cons of palm oil

Used in everything from food, cosmetics and paints to fuels, palm oil is a versatile and lucrative raw material. But the consequences of its rapid growth in production have been devastating for tropical forests, biodiversity, and local communities in palm oil-producing regions, especially in Southeast Asia. The irresponsible expansion of this crop causes deforestation and degradation, habitat loss for rare and unique species, greenhouse gas emissions, and human rights abuses, including land grabbing from indigenous peoples and labour exploitation.  

China and India are major palm oil markets

Over the years, China Dialogue has consistently shed light on the ongoing environmental and social challenges of palm oil production, while also highlighting the importance of sustainable practices. We have focused particularly on the important roles that China and India can play, as major palm oil markets, in global sustainability efforts.

After Indonesia, India is the largest consumer of palm oil but very little of what that India imports is sustainable. Even though conscious consumers are willing to support sustainable products, the lack of awareness of palm oil remains a major challenge. It’s a similar story in China. The world’s second largest importer could play a key role in the transition, but raising awareness among Chinese consumers will be essential. As my colleague Yuhan Niu recently reported, there could be great potential to raise awareness through campaigns around cosmetics and instant noodles, which represent a significant share of China’s palm oil imports.

Urgent need for sustainable palm oil practices

Our coverage has stressed the urgent need for sustainable palm oil practices and support for those producers who are acting. Through meeting strict environmental and social criteria, including zero deforestation, respecting human rights, supporting local communities especially indigenous peoples, and protecting habitats, only then can palm oil be considered sustainable. Those companies that produce sustainable palm oil must be responsible, transparent, and accountable.

Palm Oil Awareness Week

This year, China Dialogue will launch a dedicated Palm Oil Awareness Week aiming to educate, foster conversation, and raise awareness about palm oil. From 17th to 21st July, we will be publishing a range of palm oil-themed content across our social media platforms, including brand new animated explainer videos, educational Twitter threads, highlighting key palm oil articles, and more!

Raising awareness of sustainable palm oil is critical to realising the change needed. We hope that our coverage can continue to provide a platform for dialogue and cooperation among stakeholders, including civil society, NGOs, governments, companies, and dedicated individuals, as well as work towards the broader climate and sustainability agenda, promote the conservation of natural resources, protection of livelihoods, and responsible consumption patterns. We hope that you will join us in raising your voices around palm oil!