Isra-Mart srl:Kellogg's pledges to purchase sustainable palm oil certificates

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Isra-Mart srl news:

Kellogg's is planning to buy GreenPalm certificates to cover its entire global use of palm oil, in a move designed to boost demand for sustainable palm oil until the company can find a feasible way of directly sourcing sustainable palm oil to its factories.

The American cereal giant announced last week that it will increase its ownership of certificates on the GreenPalm trading platform to cover 100 per cent of its palm oil use in a bid to help reduce deforestation associated with palm oil production.

GreenPalm, which is operated by Hull-based Book&Claim, enables palm oil producers to auction certificates for each tonne of oil they produce that has been verified as meeting sustainability standards established by the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). Companies purchasing the certificates can then state on products that they are promoting sustainable palm oil, even if the oil they use is not necessarily directly sourced from sustainable plantations.

The trading scheme is seen as the simplest method for firms to increase demand for sustainable palm oil compared to more complex systems such as segregated supply in which sustainable and non-sustainable palm oil is shipped in separated containers, or stricter transportation rules where buyers request oil is separated from all other supplies to ensure it can be traced back to the mill in which it was produced.

Kellogg's said that in the long run it plans to purchase only sustainably produced oil through the segregated method, but currently such a move would not be logistically feasible because it can not identify sufficient certified supplies.

The company's interim solution to purchase GreenPalm certificates for all its global palm oil usage was welcomed by the WWF, which urged other companies to follow suit.

"By supporting sustainable production in this way, Kellogg's is demonstrating just the sort of responsible action that we want others to take," said WWF senior vice president Jason W. Clay "As the first in the US food industry to take this step, they're setting an example for others to follow.

The palm oil industry has come under increasing pressure from green groups to develop more sustainable practices to tackle the way in which plantations can contribute to deforestation and lead to increased methane emissions from palm oil mills.

While the industry has made some progress to boost sustainable practices through the RSPO, GreenPalm estimates that only six per cent of the current global supply of palm oil is grown in line with sustainability standards.

In related news, the world's largest producer of sustainable palm oil, Sime Darby, today revealed it is considering establishing a multi-feedstock vegetable oil processing plant in the French coastal town of Port-la-Nouvelle, as part of its plan to grow its downstream operations and global presence.

In the long run, Sime Darby plans to supply palm-based feedstock to the facility from its plantations in Liberia, and it would also process cereal crops such as sunflower grown in the Languedoc-Roussillon region.

The proposed plant could be operational by the end of 2013, although the company said it is also considering other possible sites in Europe and the rest of the world.