The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)—the leading certifier of palm oil in the world—voted to approve a revised certification standard (RSPO Principles & Criteria 2024) during its General Assembly, an annual meeting of its members held during the RSPO roundtable meeting in Bangkok.
Gemma Tillack, Rainforest Action Network’s forest policy director, issued the following statement in response:
“We’re all beginning to experience the effects of climate change and the collapse of biodiversity worldwide, and the crises are only set to worsen. The palm oil industry, one of the leading drivers of deforestation globally, must be reformed. The RSPO must only strengthen its standard if it hopes to remain credible to consumers and the marketplace. This revised standard weakens a flawed certification system plagued by a lack of enforcement, corrupted auditing processes, and flawed grievance mechanisms.
“RAN just released a report showing traders with RSPO-certified operations are connected to widespread illegal palm oil development in Indonesia’s Rawa Singkil Wildlife Reserve of the Leuser Ecosystem. These companies, including Apical (Royal Golden Eagle Group), Wilmar, Golden Agri Resources (Sinar Mas Group), Musim Mas, and Permata Hijau, have been repeatedly exposed for supplying palm oil that has been produced by suppliers that are clearing peat forests and producing oil palm illegally inside the Reserve. This illegally produced palm oil is entering the global market through the RSPO’s controversial Mass Balance system.
“The RSPO has now weakened its standard by removing definitive deforestation cut-off dates and replacing credible definitions used to implement no-deforestation practices with flawed definitions of its own creation.
“The RSPO once again failed to strengthen the standard to include explicit requirements for growers to remedy lands taken without communities’ Free, Prior, and Informed Consent in existing oil palm plantations.
“Major brands simply can’t rely on RSPO certification to reduce their exposure to deforestation and rights violations. RAN’s Keep Forests Standing campaign continues to call on brands to undertake independent verification of NDPE policies. RAN’s recent report is just one more piece of evidence that despite brands’ faith in the RSPO, they are continually exposed to risks.”