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Popular palm oil comes under attack

Print | Comments () Posted by Bennie DiNardo November 16, 2009 03:12 PM

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What do instant noodles, baby formula, some biofuels, French fries, lipstick and ice cream have in common?

Palm oil.

It’s often the “vegetable/oil fat” listed in the ingredients of about half of the products you encounter in the supermarket. The oil's use is dramatically increasing in the U.S. as manufacturers steer away from other oil that contains trans fats. Worldwide, use increasing around 8-10 percent a year according to industry statistics.

Land being cleared for an oil palm plantation next to a forest(Greenpeace)

But long-simmering concerns over the environmental harm from oil palm tree plantations are elevating.

A 2009 United Nations report notes that some forms of palm oil production is done on low-lying, carbon-rich peat land, which can result in the release of enormous amounts of carbon dioxide, the key culprit in global warming. Old tropical forests are often cut down to make room for massive palm oil plantations, but the new trees do not sequester the same amount of carbon as the original forest.

“If you are cutting down tropical forests and replacing them with trees that don’t (capture) the same amount of carbon, you are exacerbating climate change,’’ said Margaret Swink of the Rainforest Action Network. “(It’s) an emissions burst.”

In addition, orangutans which live in the lowlands of Borneo and Sumatra where plantations are often built are losing their living space as land is cleared to make room to capitalize on oil demand. Some estimates place the loss of orangutans at 30-50 a week because of palm oil plantations.

A spokesman was unavailable at the American Palm Oil Council, which represents Malaysian palm oil producers, one of the world’s biggest players in the industry. Yet the group's website defends the oil palm industry's environmental record.

In 2004, The World Wildlife Fund, palm oil producers (including the American Palm Oil Council) environmental groups and consumers joined to start the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) to develop environmental standards for growing sustainable oil palm trees. Yet, the more expensive sustainable palm oil has not sold well and the World Wildlife Fund recently began grading many companies on the greenness of their palm oil purchases

Two weeks ago, the RSPO annual meeting decided not to include greenhouse gas emissions in its criteria for sustainability – a move that disappointed some environmental groups.

Meanwhile, some companies are moving ahead on their own. Seventh Generation, the Burlington, Vt.-based green household product company recently pledged to only buy sustainable palm oil, even though its at a higher cost.

For more information go to: http://ran.org/the_problem_with_palm_oil/learn_more/

http://www.seventhgeneration.com/learn/news/what-s-problem-palm-oil

http://www.americanpalmoil.com/
http://www.rspo.org/