The future of the palm oil industry—and the region’s forests—depends on how millions of smallholders manage their land. Eco-Business interviewed farmers in Thailand and Malaysia to understand what sustainable agriculture means to them. It is farmers with the smallest plots of lands who could have the biggest impact on the future of the palm oil trade,
Who’s using sustainable palm oil? Eco-Business spoke to three companies that use sustainable palm oil. Why did they take the greener path, and what was their experience on the way? Sustainable palm oil is regarded by some environmentalists as an oxymoron. How can a vegetable oil linked to deforestation, toxic haze pollution and worker exploitation be in
A much criticised industry, palm oil is linked to all manner of environmental and social ills, from deforestation to human rights abuses. Can the industry behind the world’s most consumed edible oil ever be completely sustainable? Palm oil is a highly efficient crop. It is many times more productive than any other sort of oilseed
Companies that use palm oil in their products have much to gain from ensuring their brand is truly certified sustainable—here’s how. In Southeast Asia, the heartland of the palm oil trade, firms of all sizes and sectors face scrutiny from consumers and environmental groups to prove that this cheap, versatile ingredient found in half of all
More and more corporate palm oil users are promising to clean up their supply chains. But a new report says firms may have underestimated the availability of ethically produced oil, jeopardising those pledges. In the summer of 2016, two of the world’s largest producers of palm oil, which is found in everything from lipstick to margarine, lost
Malaysia’s Sime Darby Plantation produces 2.43 million tonnes of certified sustainable palm oil a year. The challenge is finding a buyer for it, says chief sustainability officer Dr Simon Lord in this interview with Eco-Business. As the company that claims to produce more certified sustainable palm oil than any other, Malaysia’s Sime Darby Plantation knows more than
The deforestation it causes is decimating species such as orangutans and tigers – but the alternatives could be worse, finds authoritative report It is consumed daily by billions of people but palm oil is “disastrous” for wildlife such as orangutans and tigers, according to an authoritative new report. However, the analysis warns that alternatives are
A new video by Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission, the KPK, suggests the agency is taking a closer look than ever before at the country’s palm oil sector. Many palm oil companies aren’t paying their taxes, and corruption in the licensing process for plantations is rife, according to the KPK. Smallholders control only around a quarter
KUALA LUMPUR (BLOOMBERG) – Plant scientist Meilina Ong Abdullah treads between neat rows of young palms and points to a petite variety that she says may help revolutionise a US$19 billion (S$26.2 billion) Malaysian export crop. The dwarf trees at a government research centre in Malaysia’s southern state of Johor are clones of a new
Malaysia’s palm oil production is able to fill the shortage of edible oil in China as a result to its global trade conflict with the US. IOI Corp Bhd group CEO Datuk Lee Yeow Chor said Malaysia could be exporting between two million and three million tonnes of palm oil to China yearly. “The feedback we