• Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Mail
+44 (0)1865 236 500
3Keel
  • About us
    • Team
    • Work with us
    • Our sustainability
    • Social responsibility
  • Practice areas
    • Climate Change
    • Circular Economy
    • Sustainable Commodities
    • Landscape Innovation
    • Resilient Agriculture
    • Bespoke Research
  • News & Insights
  • Projects
    • Clients
    • Published reports
    • Case studies
  • Contact
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
Sustainability advisors
CASE STUDY POTC

Scorecard of European palm oil first importers

Surveying European importers of palm oil on environmental and social performance

Sustainable commodities
Resilient agriculture
Product ecodesign
Landscape innovation
Climate change
Bespoke analysis

AREA SUSTAINABLE COMMODITIES

LEAD WILL SCHREIBER

CLIENT POTC

P

alm oil and ingredients derived from palm oil are used in a wide range of food and non-food products sold by most retailers (e.g. cakes, biscuits, bread, soaps, bleach). Growth in demand for both food and non-food applications have led to significant production growth and land requirements, contributing to an increasing rate of deforestation, particularly in South East Asia. In response to the growing deforestation challenge, the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) called on businesses to adopt commitments ensuring that their supply chains would achieve zero deforestation by 2020 for all commodities, including palm oil.

Retailers are the public face of a long and complicated palm supply chain. Although they have little direct influence over the primary production practices of suppliers four or five tiers beyond their contracted suppliers, they occupy a unique role in understanding and responding to customer preferences. The Palm Oil Transparency Coalition (POTC) is formed of companies working together to remove deforestation and exploitation from palm oil supply chains. It aims to achieve this by:

  • Achieving greater transparency of the progress their supply chains are making towards zero deforestation and exploitation in palm oil production.
  • Enabling individual retailers and product suppliers/manufacturers to make more informed sourcing/purchasing decisions.
  • Driving faster progress towards the supply of zero deforestation palm oil for UK/European markets and helping the same globally through the take up of this or similar models.

This is the first POTC report reflecting the findings from its annual survey of the top ten ‘first importers’ of palm oil to Europe and North America. Importers were selected on the basis of the ranking of the highest volume suppliers to individual POTC member and were then prioritised by those that were most commonly identified by the group.

As a result of the 2017 survey, the following key findings have been identified:

  • Commitments and approaches to achieving zero deforestation amongst growers, manufacturers, traders, and importers are rapidly evolving.
  • There are significant differences in the progress importers are making towards achieving zero deforestation and exploitation free supply chains.
  • ProForest and The Forest Trust (TFT) are the primary partners relied upon for traceability and risk management programmes of the surveyed companies.
  • Use of risk-based supply chain monitoring means that deforestation-free palm oil cannot currently be assured for retailers.
  • Exploitation is not being proactively managed in third party plantations or supply chains by the majority of companies assessed.
  • Third party verification of importer commitments is limited to traceability claims only and therefore do not cover broader policy areas (e.g. exploitation, peatland planting).
  • Case studies showcasing zero deforestation progress are often limited to own company plantations / communities and therefore exclude third party supply.
  • In general, importers stated that they believe RSPO certified palm oil remains the most effective way to limit the risk of deforestation within retail supply chains.

The 2018 survey is underway with results scheduled for reporting by the end of the year. Building on the insights from the 2017 review, we are focusing more on actions to prevent exploitation. For more information on our commodities data services contact Will Schreiber.

Download the report
Share this entry
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share by Mail

Deforestation of Borneo

More case studies you may be interested in

Pursuing verified deforestation and conversion free soy

November 17, 2022
https://www.3keel.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/soy_sf-1.jpg 200 360 Richard Scott https://www.3keel.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/3keel_logo_340x156-01.png Richard Scott2022-11-17 15:58:412022-11-18 09:28:40Pursuing verified deforestation and conversion free soy

Addressing the conversion of natural ecosystems beyond forests in proposed EU regulation

January 20, 2022
CLIENT WWF
https://www.3keel.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/savannah_elephant_sf.jpg 200 360 Richard Scott https://www.3keel.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/3keel_logo_340x156-01.png Richard Scott2022-01-20 11:34:572022-05-27 15:59:28Addressing the conversion of natural ecosystems beyond forests in proposed EU regulation

Retail Soy Group lays out roadmap for deforestation-free soy production

October 4, 2021
Major civil society organisations and...
https://www.3keel.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/soy_retail_group_sf.jpg 200 360 Richard Scott https://www.3keel.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/3keel_logo_340x156-01.png Richard Scott2021-10-04 21:16:482021-10-05 08:23:03Retail Soy Group lays out roadmap for deforestation-free soy production
Sign up for our newsletter

By clicking ‘subscribe’ you agree to receive marketing communications from 3Keel. You can unsubscribe from these updates at any time. For more information click here to see our privacy policy.

    Twitter
    Linkedin
    Mail
3keel green hosting certificate
Get in touch

+44 (0)1865 236500

office@3keel.com

B-Corp
Registered office

7 Fenlock Court
Blenheim Business Park
Long Hanborough
Oxfordshire
OX29 8LN
United Kingdom

3Keel LLP – Sustainability advisors Company registered in England and Wales Number OC394665© Copyright - 3keel
Scroll to top

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

Accept settingsHide notification onlySettings

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Google Analytics Cookies

These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience.

If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here:

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Other cookies

The following cookies are also needed - You can choose if you want to allow them:

Accept settingsHide notification only