BACKGROUND
The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil was formally established in April 2004. While positioning itself as an organisation representing both industry and environmental and social interests, the RSPO is dominated by corporations and other palm oil industry bodies, who make up over 90% of total membership, and who therefore entertain a massive voting majority within the structure of the RSPO. A primary aim of the RSPO is to ensure the continued expansion of the palm oil industry.
Although members of the RSPO make up an estimated total of 40% of the global production and use of palm oil, since the organization was established the clearing of primary forest and draining of peatlands to plant palm oil worldwide has accelerated rapidly, and RSPO members have been directly involved in this process. In this period, very little “sustainable” palm oil has been produced under the RSPO processes.
MEMBERSHIP
Membership of the RSPO requires little quantifiable action on sustainability.
Membership can be purchased by any palm oil growers, palm oil processors and traders, consumer goods manufacturers, retailers, banks and investors, environmental conservation organizations and social development organizations. Applications must be approved by the RSPO Executive Board, which is also dominated by palm oil corporations or industry bodies.
There are no requirements upon members to have their palm oil plantations or mills audited or certified in any way. Members are simply required to comply with the RSPO Code of Conduct, which mostly contains broad statements of principles regarding sustainable practices, but without specific, quantifiable action.
CERTIFICATION
Members of the RSPO can seek to have their plantations and mills certified under RSPO processes. The RSPO Executive Board appoints the auditing bodies, and approves the certification. Audited members pay their auditors directly. Because suppliers, traders and retailers of certified palm oil will be able to receive a higher price for their certified product, and these very suppliers, traders and retailers have a clear voting majority within RSPO structures, there is a clear conflict of interest here. The certification process is not independent.
Over and above this major flaw, the mechanics of the certification system itself is perceived to have major inadequacies:
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Given the product volumes involved, it is extremely difficult to properly audit the supply chain during the certification process, especially when the raw materials are originating from so many different sources.
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Under the RSPO system, companies can blend “sustainable” and “non-sustainable” oils at the mill level. This creates the perfect opportunity for misrepresentation.
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The mill, along with its directly-owned supply base, receives the certification. However the mill may continue to purchase palm oil from non-company, non-certified sources for a period of three years.
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The RSPO Principles and Criteria sometimes lack specific, quantifiable mandatory actions or targets, and are often vague.
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There are concerns regarding the trading of certificates in certified palm oil, particularly with regard to transparency within the RSPO-endorsed broker, GreenPalm, and also with regard to the ease at which companies purchasing these certificates can claim to be supporting RSPO-certified product.
ILLEGAL AND UNETHICAL PRACTICES BY RSPO MEMBERS
There are many documented (and many more alleged) examples of illegal and unethical practices by RSPO members. Most of these have involved clear breaches of RSPO Principles and Criteria.
These breaches have included alleged human rights violations against employees, alleged restrictions on union formation, alleged collusion with local police to arrest workers for organizing unions, the clearing of land in customary rights areas without prior consultation with the local community or any land acquisition process, the clearing of tropical rainforests without any approval or High Conservation Value assessments, and undertaking activities, such as clearing land and the use of fire, in contravention of local laws.
Importantly, despite the gravity of these actions, as far as we are aware not one RSPO member has ever suffered any consequences whatsoever for these breaches. No financial penalties on members or expulsion from membership has ever occurred at the RSPO, and the companies responsible for these breaches have been permitted to continue to maintain their membership of the RSPO, and to use it to continue to claim that they are operating in an environmentally sustainable way.
As mentioned the extent of the illegal and unethical practices, and the lack of appropriate RSPO action, has led us to the conclusion that the RSPO cannot be relied upon to take responsibility for ensuring that its members act legally, ethically or environmentally and socially responsibly.
USE OF THE RSPO NAME
The RSPO has positioned itself as an organisation working towards the sustainable production of palm oil.
For the many companies who use palm oil in their products, and for the consumers who buy those products, this is very important. If these companies and their customers believe that the palm oil being used has been produced in an environmentally and socially responsible way, then they will have no hesitation in continuing to use it.
Due to widespread publicity by groups such as Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and the Palm Oil Action Group, there is now a much greater public awareness of the issues surrounding palm oil - consumers have been contacting their retailers, food manufacturing companies and bio fuel producers to express their concerns about the use of palm oil.
In response, many of these companies state that they only use palm oil from RSPO sources, or that they are an RSPO member, and then go on to describe what the RSPO is, and state its charter. In most situations, this alleviates the concerns of the consumer, and they continue to buy the product.
Unfortunately, as we know, membership of the RSPO is no guarantee whatsoever for sustainable production, and in fact the very existence of the RSPO has in many ways actually been detrimental to forests, communities and species as it has led many to believe something is being done to protect them, when in fact quite the opposite is occurring.
MOVING FORWARD
It is possible that many of the companies that site the use of RSPO sourced palm oil are not aware of these problems. As you continue to question them on their use of palm oil please respond to any emails with queries as to whether they are aware that the RSPO is actually no guarantee of sustainable palm oil, and will not be until we have independently verified sustainable palm oil plantations.
In the mean time, with very little authentic sustainable palm oil currently on the market, the only sound approach to take is to avoid palm oil altogether.
And of course - spread the word!
And join one of the consumer actions that we are running around Australia.
As more and more consumers question companies and change their purchasing habits the companies will have no choice but to change their practices - and in this way we can be proactive in bringing about a more sustainable world.
We have also put together a 'Wish List' of recommendations that we believe need to be implemented if the RSPO is to function in the manner in which it purports to - i.e. guaranteeing sustainable and socially responsible palm oil plantations...see here for more information.
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