Cargill Outlines Sustainable Palm Oil Plans

MINNEAPOLISCargill announced that the palm oil products it supplies to markets in Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand will be certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and/or originated from smallholder growers by 2015 (excluding palm kernel oil products). By 2020, the company says, this will apply to 100 percent of its palm oil products and all customers worldwide.

Cargill is an active supporter of sustainable palm and has been a member of the RSPO since it was founded. We hope this commitment will encourage more participation across the supply chain and help RSPO palm oil become the mainstream," said Paul Conway, vice chairman of Cargill. This goal will help us meet the rising demand for sustainable palm oil products amongst manufacturers and retailers, while continuing to encourage palm oil producers to adopt more sustainable practices."

Cargill already offers RSPO certified palm oil products to its customers. Its European, Malaysian, United States and Australian refineries have received RSPO certification. Its oil palm plantation at PT Hindoli in Sumatra, Indonesia has also been certified and smallholder farmers at this location became the first to be certified under the RSPOs Smallholder Principles & Criteria in late 2010. The company also has its own policies in place for responsible palm production on its own plantations including commitments to not plant on high conservation value forests (HCVF); to not develop new plantations on deep peat land or land that would threaten biodiversity; and a strict no-burn policy for land preparation.

Further, says it will continue to collaborate with the World Wildlife Fund-U.S. (WWF) to gauge the progress its palm oil suppliers in Indonesia are making in implementing the RSPO Principles & Criteria.

"We remain very committed to working with WWF and all our suppliers to help find ways to implement more sustainable production practices," continued Conway. While this process has proved to be more complex and taken longer than everyone first envisioned, we believe this long-term initiative will support producers to meet the rising demand for more responsible palm oil."