Sustainable palm oil body reinstates Nestlé’s membership

17 Jul 2018 --- Three weeks after Nestlé was suspended from the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) for breaching its code of conduct, the food giant has been reinstated after submitting its action plan to achieve 100 percent RSPO-certified sustainable palm oil by 2023. The reinstatement of Nestlé's certificates and membership status came yesterday (July 16) in a joint announcement from the Swiss food giant and the palm oil industry watchdog.

Nestlé was initially suspended for failing to submit a report going through exactly how it would ensure the use of certified sustainable palm oil, an annual requirement of being an RSPO member. 

According to both parties, the RSPO and Nestlé share the vision of transforming the palm oil industry for a sustainable future and they also believe that achieving this requires the entire industry to work towards greater transparency, inclusiveness, direct supply chain engagement and capacity building throughout the supply chain.

However, at the end of last month when the RSPO initially suspended Nestlé, the Swiss transnational responded with a comprehensive statement which said that although the company shares RSPO’s ambition for improving the social and environmental performance of the palm oil sector, “our approaches to this do differ.”

The statement from Nestlé Global Head of Responsible Sourcing, Benjamin Ware, which was sent to FoodIngredientsFirst at the time, said: “Nestlé is fully committed to the responsible sourcing of palm oil, and we are working hard to achieve our ambition of 100 percent responsibly sourced palm oil by 2020. We have always viewed the RSPO certification as one tool in achieving that ambition, but it is not the only tool.”

“We respect the RSPO board decision and recognize that there are fundamental differences in the theory of change that Nestlé and RSPO are employing to realize the ambition of a wholly sustainable palm oil industry. We believe in achieving traceability to plantations and transforming supply chain practices through interventionist activities instead of solely relying on audits or certificates,” he said.

However, in yesterday’s announcement, Ware says: “Nestlé supports RSPO's role in driving industry-wide change and appreciates its decision following the submission of our action plan, which focuses on increasing traceability primarily through segregated RSPO palm oil.”

“This builds on Nestlé’s ongoing activities to achieve a traceable and responsibly sourced palm oil supply chain.”

Ware adds that Nestlé would play a leading role within the RSPO by participating in working groups and sharing its experiences in addressing some of the critical environmental and socio-economic challenges affecting the sector. 

“In line with the RSPO's objectives, this work will focus on preventing deforestation, particularly the protection of peatland and high-carbon stock land, as well as respecting human rights across the value chain,” he says. 

Darrel Webber, CEO of RSPO, reinforces the objectives and mission of the Roundtable, saying that it is more than just a certification scheme – it’s all about its members making a commitment. 

“When joining RSPO, all our members make a commitment to transform the palm oil industry. Nestlé has pledged to step up their efforts in working actively on solutions within the RSPO system, via active participation,” he says.

“It’s with this in mind that we are welcoming Nestlé back to the Roundtable, confident they will live up to our membership obligations and succeed in delivering on their time-bound plan.”

“We trust that by working collectively we are able to realize a sustainable, respectful and responsible palm oil industry.”

Formed in 2004, the RSPO deals with the pressing global call for sustainably produced palm oil and promotes the growth and use of sustainable oil palm products through credible global standards and engagement of stakeholders. It wants to transform markets to make sustainable palm oil the norm. 

The seat of the not-for-profit association is in Zurich, Switzerland, while the Secretariat is based in Kuala Lumpur with satellite offices in Jakarta, London, Zoetermeer in the Netherlands and New York. It unites stakeholders from seven sectors of the palm oil industry – oil palm growers, palm oil processors or traders, consumer goods manufacturers, retailers, banks and investors, environmental or nature conservation NGOs and social or developmental NGOs – to develop and implement global standards for sustainable palm oil. 

Recently, FoodIngredientsFirst interviewed RSPO CEO, Datuk Darrel Webber who warned against the unforeseen sustainability and biodiversity impacts that may come from switching to, what he calls, less sustainable edible oils than palm oil. 

“The knee-jerk reaction is, ‘if this stuff is bad why not stop buying it,’ but of course, there are perverse incentives. You do this and that will incentivize something that is worse. More messages are coming out from academia and civil society saying that banning palm oil could lead to worse impacts than what we have now,” noted Webber during the interview. You can read more here. 

Currently, just 19 percent of palm oil is globally certified by the RSPO which has 3,872 members. RSPO-certified palm oil comes from Indonesia (51 percent), Malaysia (42 percent), Papua New Guinea (5 percent), Brazil (1 percent) and Colombia (1 percent).

By Gaynor Selby