Your shampoo, your ice cream, your margarine, your lipstick – all contain palm oil. Demand is still growing, as are oil palm plantations ... but at what price to tropical forests and the biodiversity found there?
Palm oil
Palm Oil Scorecard 2011
The most popular vegetable oil
Palm oil is used for food products, detergents, cosmetics and – increasingly – biofuel.Global production of palm oil has doubled over the last decade. By 2000, palm oil was the most produced and traded vegetable oil (FAO 2002), accounting for 40% of all vegetable oils traded internationally. By 2006, the percentage had risen to 65% (FAO).
Worldwide demand for palm oil is expected to double again by 2020. New plantations are being developed and existing ones are being expanded in Indonesia, Malaysia and other Asian countries, as well as in Africa and Latin America.
But this expansion comes at the expense of tropical forest – which forms critical habitat for a large number of endangered species.
News
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Palm oil industry shifts gears, commits to market transformation
The 9th annual Meeting of the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) concluded today with a vote at the General Assembly where most RSPO members ...
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No more excuses – leading companies in WWF Scorecard show sustainable palm oil sourcing is possible now
Companies in Europe, Australia and Japan are buying more certified sustainable palm oil than ever before, but urgent action is still needed to avoid ...
Learn more about palm oil
The basicsSustainable palm oil production
How you can help
- Consumers & companies: Buy sustainable palm oil
- Investors: Implement a responsible palm oil financing and investment policy
- Producers: Join the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil
The rising popularity of vegetable oils
Cultivation of vegetable oil crops has increased faster than any other major type of food or industrial agricultural crop in the past 40 years.
Likewise, per capita human consumption of vegetable oils has increased more rapidly during the past 30 years than any other food.
Economic growth is certainly one reason that more consumers, particularly in China and India, can afford to purchase more vegetable oils. However, this trend also suggests that more people prefer to have a higher percentage of their food prepared with vegetable oils.
Likewise, per capita human consumption of vegetable oils has increased more rapidly during the past 30 years than any other food.
Economic growth is certainly one reason that more consumers, particularly in China and India, can afford to purchase more vegetable oils. However, this trend also suggests that more people prefer to have a higher percentage of their food prepared with vegetable oils.
