Companies worldwide can and should be using 100% sustainable palm oil, as certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

The 2013 Palm Oil Buyers Scorecard assesses the performance of 130 major retailers, food service companies and consumer goods and other manufacturers worldwide on their use of certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO).

This year’s Scorecard – the third WWF has produced – features companies from Europe, Australia, Japan, the US and India. 

Source: WWF website

This metric indicates whether the company in question has a policy in place on the Greenhouse Gas emissions of the palm oil that they source.

Since its launch in 2007, the RSPO standard has required existing estates and mills to report and reduce their GHG emissions. As of 2013, new developments have to be planned in ways that minimize their emissions – including by avoiding highcarbon areas like forests and peatlands and by building mills that eliminate methane emissions. Although these are welcome moves, the RSPO standard doesn’t set specific targets or thresholds for emissions from land-use change – and the RSPO does not even yet require public reporting of emissions.

WWF would like to see progressive growers make such climate commitments and report on them. However growers will only be encouraged to go the extra mile if there is a clear market demand for “low-carbon” palm oil. That’s why, for the first time, this Scorecard asks retailers and manufacturers about their GHG policies. 

Source: WWF - Palm Oil Buyers Scorecard Report