The world's most widely consumed vegetable oil is often just an ingredient listed in small type on a label -- but its human and environmental costs are enormous, as a new report lays bare
Not that many peple in the UK would have a jar of palm oil in their kitchen cupboard. But palm oil is the most widely consumed vegetable oil on the planet, and it is in about half of all packaged products sold in supermarkets.
Its production, however, comes at a cost, and one of the worst affected places is Indonesia, as a new report from Greenpeace makes clear.
Many people will remember the devastating fires of 2015 that swept Indonesia. These fires began to plague the region 20 years ago, when forests and peatlands were first drained to make way for palm oil plantations. Over the last two decades, millions of hectares have been destroyed for pulp and oil palm concessions, at untold cost to wildlife, the climate and people. A recent study estimated that more than 100,000 adults in the region died prematurely as a result of pollution from burning forests and peatlands in 2015 alone.
Greenpeace's report looks in detail at one palm oil company, IOI, which recently had its 'sustainability' credentials -- its ability to trade into 'certified' sustainable supply chains -- revoked and then re-instated by the opaque body that governs the chain, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. Greenpeace's purpose was to check whether IOI had in fact taken meaningful steps to correct the malpractices that had caused it to lose its license. It finds that it had not. The document does not make comfortable reading for casual consumers of palm-oil-laden products in the western world.
Read the report, A deadly trade-off, here, and find out more about Sustain's work for a fairer, healthier food supply here.
Published Friday 30 September 2016
Sustain: Sustain The alliance for better food and farming advocates food and agriculture policies and practices that enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, improve the working and living environment, enrich society and culture and promote equity.
