Unilever's Europe-Wide Palm Oil Covered Sustainably

GreenPalm is a certificate trading programme, endorsed by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which is designed to tackle the environmental and social problems created by the production of palm oil.

8 Apr 2010 --- Unilever announced that it has secured enough GreenPalm certificates of sustainable palm oil to cover the requirements of its European business; as well as those of its business in Australia and New Zealand.

This is part of Unilever’s overall commitment to buy all its palm oil from certified sustainable sources by 2015.

GreenPalm is a certificate trading programme, endorsed by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which is designed to tackle the environmental and social problems created by the production of palm oil. By selling certificates through the GreenPalm programme, palm oil producers can earn more for their crop through sustainable farming.

Gavin Neath, Unilever’s SVP Global Communications and Sustainability, said: “This is an important achievement and a significant step in our journey towards sustainable palm oil sourcing. Until suitable segregated supply chains become available, GreenPalm certificates are the best option to encourage growers to comply with the requirements of the RSPO and certify their plantations as sustainable. Our consumers can now confidently choose Unilever brands in the knowledge that we are actively supporting the development of a sustainable palm oil industry.”

Although there are now significant quantities of certified sustainable palm oil available on the market, there isn’t yet sufficient volume coming through segregated supply chains where buyers can have confidence that the refined oil which they are buying comes from a plantation, mill and refinery which have been certified sustainable.

Last year Unilever purchased 180,000 GreenPalm certificates at a premium to the market price for ordinary palm oil. This accounted for over 80% of all the certificates traded globally in 2009. We will double this volume in 2010.

"We hope that our actions will transform the palm oil industry and help put a stop to deforestation in South East Asia," concluded Neath.