UPDATE: This article previously stated that Ferrero refused to publicly disclose either the mills and producers, or the traders and suppliers of the palm oil used in their products.
A spokesperson from Ferrero said:
“Ferrero uses palm oil in its products to ensure that the consistency and texture is just right, without having to use the hydrogenation process which would produce unhealthy trans-fats.
We are committed to the use of sustainable palm oil and have been a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) since 2005, and since 2014 100% of the palm oil in Ferrero products has been certified by the RSPO as segregated and sustainable. In 2013, we developed our own Palm Oil Charter to go beyond RSPO certification, to ensure that we do not to buy palm oil from areas with recent deforestation.
We are proud to be among the top scoring global companies in the WWF International Palm Oil Scorecard, and came 1st out of 14 global consumer goods manufacturers assessed by Greenpeace for their ‘no deforestation’ policies. We were also the only company within the study that could trace nearly 100% of its palm oil back to the plantation it is grown on, and we ensure transparency in our supply chain by publishing a full list of our mills here: https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/ferrero-static/globalcms/documenti/2907.pdf
We remain committed to the use of 100% sustainable palm oil and full details can be found here: https://www.ferrero.co.uk/features/palm-oil".
Last week, Iceland unveiled their Christmas TV advert which explored the story of Rang-tan; an orangutan who's been driven out of the rainforest by deforestation thanks to the demand of palm oil. They vowed to remove palm oil from all their products, resulting in a ban for being too political. And yet, this is a conversation we should most definitely be having.
Palm oil is the most widely used vegetable oil in the world thanks to its versatility and the high yield of the trees, but the increase in demand has caused devastation across South East Asia. Deforestation is destroying the habitats of the three surviving orangutan species, with the Sumatran orangutan now being listed as critically endangered.
Thus, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil was set-up in 2004 to promote the production of sustainable palm oil, taking into account environmental protection and reduction in human rights abuses. However, since then, despite many major companies now sourcing their palm oil from RSPO-certified plantations, there has been repeated oversights with regards to fraudulent audits and the covering up of RSPO violations.
In May 2016, the Malaysian agricultural company FGV was forced to relinquish certification for 58 mills for reasons relating to the exploitation of workers; workers who were not paid properly, had passports confiscated and had no access to safety equipment. However, since then, FGV have already managed to regain eight certificates back.
Another major palm oil supplier called IOI was suspended by the RSPO that same year for clearing land without permits, forcing many companies to sever ties with them. However, only months later was the suspension lifted. These indiscretions are by no means the end of it, and will most definitely continue if the RSPO do not impose stricter sanctions on suppliers that have been found to be guilty of unethical activity.
Unsurprisingly, Greenpeace unveiled a report this year revealing many major brands who refuse to disclose publicly either the mills and producers or the traders and suppliers of the palm oil used in their products. Those companies included Johnson & Johnson, Kraft Heinz, Hershey's, Kellogg's and Pepsico. They also cited that none of them, along with other companies like Colgate-Palmolive, Mars and Nestle, use 100% clean palm oil.
With that in mind, studies have shown barely significant differences between RSPO and non-RSPO certified plantations in terms of changes in environmental and social sustainability.
"No significant difference was found between certified and non-certified plantations for any of the sustainability metrics investigated", Environmental Research Letters concluded in their report published in June 2018. "To achieve intended outcomes, RSPO principles and criteria are in need of substantial improvement and rigorous enforcement."
The research showed that orangutan populations declined at a similar rate between 2009 and 2014 in both certified and non-certified plantations, and no evidence could be found to suggest that RSPO certification could help retain orangutan populations.
There was also no significant difference in the amount of fire incidents, though fire outbreaks have risen in both certified and non-certified areas. And while the economic situation in RSPO certified areas improved somewhat, poverty had increased in both despite the RSPO principle 6 citing "responsible consideration of employees and of individuals and communities affected by growers and mills".
On the other hand, the RSPO later pointed out in response other research showing a reduction in deforestation by 33% and in forest fires by up to 75% over a longer period (between 2001 and 2015), though no-one was able to dispute the decline in orangutan populations.
Furthermore, it seems that RSPO certification doesn't even have a competitive advantage over non-certified products because companies aren't even required to list palm oil in the ingredients. They can get away with "vegetable oil" or "vegetable fats", so even if a buyer is savvy enough to check the label, they're not going to know that it contains palm oil just from one glance.
Thus, even with an increase in awareness for palm oil issues, industry for palm oil free or sustainable palm oil products will not benefit without the appropriate labels. Producers will not get paid more for sustainable activity, and therefore the unsustainable and unethical collection of palm oil will continue.
No-one's saying that the RSPO shouldn't exist at all. To have an organisation dedicated to sustainability is obviously better than not having one at all whether or not it makes a massive difference. But unless they start conducting regular investigations and enforcing harsher penalties for principle violations, there's no hope for the future of our rainforests.