“‘We’re at a critical juncture’: RSPO’s Anne Rosenbarger on the push for sustainable palm oil”, 13 July 2020

… [Anne] Rosenbarger [co-chair of the board of governors with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)] speaks to China Dialogue about what the industry needs to do to catch up on its 2020 commitments, the importance of a strong sustainability message in China and India’s expanding palm oil markets – and why boycotting palm oil isn’t the solution to the industry’s environmental ills…

[Anne Rosenbarger:] We’ve heard so much about corporate 2020 commitments – No Deforestation, No Planting on Peatland, No Exploitation, or “NDPE” policies, as well as RSPO sourcing goals and targets to eliminate deforestation. But the reality is – and was even before Covid-19 struck – that a number of the companies who’ve made these bold commitments are going to miss those targets…

It’s imperative that companies who are falling short of their 2020 targets act with a renewed sense of urgency to evaluate their approaches and swiftly make up for lost time. We’re at a critical juncture – and the next steps determine whether industry actors will be seen as part of the problem or as real catalysts for positive change; and whether corporate sustainability commitments will be seen as a greenwashing exercise, or a fundamental shift in core values and priorities designed to protect the wellbeing of future generations…

As the largest palm oil importers globally, India and China are crucial – not only for the global palm oil market, but also for the sustainable palm oil sector…

Demand is low in China and India for sustainable palm oil. Consumers and the industry’s perception of palm oil and its environmental and social problems is relatively vague, or not known at all… Non-certified palm oil can easily find buyers in China and India, and like all markets they can be price-sensitive. So, many companies lack the motivation or value proposition to join the RSPO and become certified…

The recognition that it is our shared responsibility to make sustainable palm oil the norm is largely what brought the RSPO together as a multi-stakeholder roundtable, in the first place…

Yet, shared responsibility is also about more than just increasing volumes. It’s about raising awareness around sustainable palm oil in a way that’s more meaningful, and engaging more stakeholders from across the globe. It’s about finding ways to effectively communicate to consumers the sometimes quite nuanced message that despite ongoing problems, supporting sustainable palm oil is the more effective strategy to shift the industry in the right direction, compared to a boycott…

A boycott of palm oil means companies will buy alternative oils that require more land and could cause more damage to the environment. Boycotting could also affect the livelihoods of smallholders…