GreenPalm at 7th Roundtable Meeting on Sustainable Palm Oil

We were there to raise GreenPalm’s profile among more than 800 delegates – manufacturers, retailers, producers, NGOs and financiers – who had attended the three-day event to discuss the latest developments in the drive towards sustainability in the palm oil industry.

It seemed that everyone wanted to come and see us at our GreenPalm stand. Visitors included new producers, those without certification who are contemplating getting involved with the RSPO and becoming certified sustainable palm oil producers. We explained how GreenPalm works and showed them how it can help them earn more for their crop. They came in search of reassurance that it’s financially worth getting involved, and, going on the feedback from many of them, that’s exactly what they found. 

Smallholders 

We also met scheme smallholders, contracted to mills, who are aiming to gain certification by the middle of next year. They have undergone trial audits and are ready to move to the next stage. We were able to talk about this at RT7 and show other scheme smallholders how they could reap the rewards directly, instead of all the benefits going to the mills. 

Latest figures & breaking news 

Overall, this was a wonderful opportunity to give people a greater understanding of GreenPalm and share some encouraging up-to-date figures – more than 192,000 certificates traded, and producers’ earnings topping $2.2m. GreenPalm had also enjoyed a higher media profile in the days leading up to RT7, including the news of Marks & Spencer committing to used GreenPalm to cover its entire use of palm oil.

The result is that more businesses have seen the benefits of joining GreenPalm, and we look forward to welcoming them on board.

RT7 was also the perfect occasion to announce that we’ve reduced the GreenPalm brokerage fee from $3 to $2. We cut the rate after taking the opportunity to review the operating costs, a move that was welcomed with enthusiasm by many of the big users of the programme.

As well as boosting palm oil producers’ earnings, every GreenPalm certificate sold generates a $1 donation to the work of the RSPO. A sign of the programme’s success was the resulting $192,000 cheque AAK president Ian McIntosh, pictured above, was thrilled to present to the president and secretary general of the RSPO at RT7.  

GreenPalm pens 

Being green-minded, we don’t like to waste anything, especially things like outdated promotional tools. Why discard 500 old-style GreenPalm pens when the Borneo Child Aid Society can make good use of them? I was more than happy to hand them to this good cause, where they will go on being useful.

Another year will be drawing to a close when I write my next newsletter, and I hope to be able to sign off from 2009 with more great figures and exciting news.

Keep up to date with GreenPalm by visiting www.greenpalm.org or contact me on +44 (0) 1482 332013 or drop me a line at bob.norman@greenpalm.org

« back to blog index