According to a new report titled ‘Profitably and Sustainability in Palm Oil’, the economic benefits of investing in sustainable palm oil are larger than the monetary costs.

The environmental impact of the palm oil industry is well documented. There are many campaigns to end unsustainable palm oil production by groups including Greenpeace, Rainforest Action Network, Friends of the Earth, and the Ape Alliance.

The recent report was produced by the UK’s development finance institution CDC with the Dutch development bank FMO. In 2003 WWF worked with other NGOs and the palm oil industry to create the RSPO, which ensures high standards of social and environmental criteria, for example not farming in valuable rainforests. The benefits to businesses come from achieving Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certification, which guarantees that sourcing the palm oil has not caused deforestation.

Certified Sustainable Palm Oil is over than 10% of the global palm oil market. WWF’s Joshua Levin called sustainable palm oil ‘a serious business opportunity’.

Adam Harrison, WWF’s representative of the RSPO, states: ‘the responsibility for making the industry sustainable also lies with those companies that buy and use palm oil.’

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