Consumers are lashing back against Cadbury's change to its
chocolate recipe. The unannounced shift includes a switch to
include palm oil in its chocolate. When confronted about the
threat to the last vestiges of rainforest, home to the
Orangutan in Southeast Asia, that are being cleared for palm
oil, Cadbury responds: "Cadbury Australia and New Zealand can
confirm that it has ensured that all the palm oil purchased
for its Cadbury Dairy Milk range is certified as sustainably
sourced. Cadbury is a founding member of the Roundtable of
Sustainable Palm Oil(RSPO), and has been working since the
RSPO's creation to develop sustainable sources of Palm Oil...
As a business we only use palm oil purchased from other
audited and approved members of the Roundtable of Sustainable
Palm Oil." A look at the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil
(RSPO) website (http://www.rspo.org/Criteria_for_Sustainable_Palm_Oil.aspx)
shows this claim is open to dispute. The website includes
these basic FAQ's: Q: Are physical audits conducted to ensure
the organisation meets the minimum criteria? No. As the
development of criteria for sustainable palm oil is ongoing,
a physical audit is not carried out to ensure applicants meet
minimum criteria. The RSPO aims to raise the "sustainability
level" of the palm oil industry; hence it aims to accept a
wide range of organisations as members so long as they commit
to the objectives of the RSPO. A reporting mechanism is also
currently being formulated to ensure all current RSPO Members
are actively contributing to the growth of sustainable palm
oil through the member organizations' management practices,
research activities, and implementation of relevant projects.
Q: Will the ultimate path of the development of criteria by
RSPO for sustainable palm oil lead to a certification scheme?
No. This is not currently seen as the ultimate aim, though
some mechanism for verification or measurement would be
needed in future. Cadbury also claims on its New Zealand
website (http://www.cadbury.co.nz/About-Cadbury/Frequently-Asked-Questions.aspx)
that it buys Greenpalm certified Palm Oil and gives the link
to its website. On the home page (http://www.greenpalm.org/site/),
one of the first things it reveals is that only RSPO
certified plantations can offer GreenPalm certificates, which
as RSPO admits, are not guaranteed to be sustainable at all.
Correction: RSPO certification does involve independent auditing
Regrettably, the previous commentator has given some incorrect or outdated information on the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a global project dedicated to promoting the growth and use of sustainable palm oil through multi-stakeholder collaboration. The RSPO counts among its prominent members WWF and Oxfam International, two well respected organizations. Other than the comment suggests, the RSPO has set up comprehensive certification schemes to guarantee that palm oil is produced in sustainable ways. Producers of RSPO-certified sustainable palm oil have been thoroughly audited on the ground. Findings of these audits are publicly available at RSPO's website (http://www.rspo.org). All corporate RSPO members pledge to be moving towards producing or using RSPO-certified palm oil, and now that the system is running in earnest, a growing number has begun doing so. Readers who want to learn more about the ways in which the RSPO is making progress towards more sustainable palm oil production are invited to view the organisation's latest Fact sheets or Powerpoint Presentation. They can also read RSPO's Frequently asked questions document or e-mail to communications@rspo.eu.