To Keep a Billion-Dollar Industry Alive, Sustainability is the Way Forward

Darrel Webber, Secretary-General of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), discusses:

- Primary aims;
- Initial difficulties in creating RSPO standards;
- How climate change affected these initial standards;
- Difficulties of a consensual approach;
- Membership and percentage of palm industry that is RSPO-certified;
- Steps to obtaining RSPO certification;
- The primary benefit of being RSPO-certified;
- Existence of a purchase premium for RSPO-certified oil;
- Whether this premium is dissipating;
- Whether trade sanctions exist for non-RSPO-certified oil;
- GreenPalm certificates and how they work;
- Whether there are issues concerning so-called traceability in Green Palm certificates;
- IOI Corp and their falling foul of the RSPO;
- Status of IOI's suspension;
- Breaches and membership breaches - examples and results of engagement approach;
- Challenges involved in investigating breaches of clearing high-conservation areas and which countries are most guilty;
- Whether, as accused, RSPO has been accorded to undeserving companies;
- Friends of the Earth: "does not regard the RSPO as a credible certification process as it is only a limited tool of technicality which is not able to adequately address the horrendous impacts of oil palm cultivation on forests, land and

communities.";
- Greenpeace: RSPO risks creating the "illusion of sustainable palm oil, justifying the expansion of the palm oil industry."
- Rainforest Action Network: "Oil palm does not lead to the development of a country";
- The burning and draining of large tracks of peat swamp forest and whether they should be converted to palm oil estates;

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The RSPO is a not-for-profit association that unites stakeholders from seven sectors of the palm oil industry:
- oil palm producers,
- palm oil processors or traders,
- consumer goods manufacturers,
- retailers
- Banks and investors,
- environmental or nature conservation NGOs and
- social or developmental NGOs

Defining sustainable palm oil RSPO has developed a set of standards called the Principles & Criteria (P&C) that define the practices for sustainable palm oil production.
These standards address the legal, economic, environmental and social requirements of producing sustainable palm oil.  RSPO’s Principles and Criteria (P&C) for sustainable palm oil production are based on these principles:
1. Commitment to transparency
2. Compliance with applicable laws and regulations
3. Commitment to long-term economic and financial viability
4. Use of appropriate best practices by growers and millers
5. Environmental responsibility and conservation of natural resources and biodiversity
6. Responsible consideration for employees and for individuals and communities affected by growers and mills
7. Responsible development of new plantings
8. Commitment to continuous improvement in key areas of activity