RSPO certified sustainable palm oil is on the increase

There are now 1,923,097MT of RSPO certified sustainable palm oil available to buy and use – an increase in just a few weeks of more than 300,000MT. Another oil palm grower has now been certified by the RSPO, bringing the total number to 12, and there are now 47 mills that have also passed the RSPO’s certification audits.

This is wonderful news, demonstrating that sustainable palm oil production is on the increase – and much of it could not have been done without the support of businesses using GreenPalm.

From Amsterdam to the Windy City

GreenPalm has enjoyed another whirlwind show visit. Over two fabulous days at the PLMA World of Private Label Show in Amsterdam, we met people who were representing retail giants, wholesalers, importers and exporters from 65 countries.

Using only certified sustainable palm oil in food, cosmetics and toiletries is a difficult task when a private label involves products from countless suppliers. It’s not as simple as just telling everyone to switch over to a sustainable source – instead, it involves RSPO audits and accreditation at every stage of the supply chain, and a huge investment in time and money. GreenPalm offers a means of supporting sustainable production immediately, while this switchover gradually takes place.

This was the message we were giving visitors to PLMA, and the response was very interesting. Some already knew about us and were very familiar with the palm oil issue but wanted to know more about how GreenPalm could work for them. For others, this was a new area of expertise, and it was a good opportunity to tell them how crucial and urgent it is that palm oil becomes produced sustainably.

In July we’ll be heading to Chicago for IFT 2010 Annual Meeting and Food Expo. This is an annual meeting of minds from both the food science and food business worlds, and brings together experts from industry, academia and government. Where better to promote sustainable palm oil production? Find out more here: http://www.am-fe.ift.org/cms/ or email me direct if you have any questions or suggestions about GreenPalm’s visit to this important event.

A great idea in any language!

We’re continuing to translate our documents so that we can spread the GreenPalm message easily to more people. All the GreenPalm brochures and sell-sheets are available in French, Spanish and German, and now we have them in Chinese too.  The documents are available to download from our website, www.greenpalm.org/downloads.

We’re also currently translating the website itself into several European languages – you’ll be among the first to know when this is ready.

GreenPalm trades top 680,000!

At the time of writing, over 680,000 GreenPalm certificates have been traded, earning a total premium of $6.2m for palm oil producers who are working sustainably.

More producers are currently awaiting certification from the RSPO, while others are putting themselves through the audit procedure – so before long, we’ll have even more using ethical methods to produce palm oil.

The latest businesses to join GreenPalm and support sustainable production make everything from peanut butter to soap, again showing how diverse palm oil’s use is in our everyday products.

GreenPalm is the simplest, fastest way to give genuine, practical support to sustainable palm oil production. There’s no “greenwash”, no hidden agenda – it simply rewards producers for being socially and environmentally responsible and gives a clear incentive for others to follow suit.

Until next time, if you have any questions about GreenPalm and sustainable palm oil, please email me at bob.norman@greenpalm.org or call me on +44 (0) 1482 332013.

Best wishes

Bob Norman

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