FDBusiness.com

Buyers of palm oil can now choose to support specific, named producers with GreenPalm certificates, which now include the name, address and GPS location of the sustainably certified mill trading each certificate. It is an additional level of transparency for GreenPalm certificates, which represent volumes of palm oil, palm kernel oil or palm kernel expeller certified sustainable by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

Since the introduction of traceability in January, numerous certificate buyers have been in contact with GreenPalm to request further information about what the move means, which details they can receive, and to explore their options for both on- and off-market deals.

Previously, multiple RSPO-certified sustainable mills submitted their certificates for sale into a collective pot on the GreenPalm market. Account names were known, but buyers received no mill transparency. Now, buyers can select the RSPO-certified grower or mill they wish to support via GreenPalm’s off-market deal facility, or can focus their sustainable sourcing on a particular geographical area.

GreenPalm enables buyers to off-set their purchases of palm products by paying the producer of an equivalent volume of RSPO-certified sustainable material. This is currently the only route for some buyers of palm fractions and derivatives to source certified sustainable palm products.

GreenPalm is also the only practical way to support the estimated 40% of palm producers who cannot export to countries where there is high demand for sustainable palm, and certified growers or mills that cannot sell physical material into the segregated supply chain.

Simon Chrismas, Product Manager of Book&Claim, which operates the GreenPalm programme, announced the development to coincide with the organisation’s attendance at the RSPO’s European Roundtable, starting on June 9^th in Milan. [LINK www.eurt.rspo.org]

He said: “The details of certified producers bring buyers’ support to life. GreenPalm has always been the direct connection between buyers seeking to make an ethical choice, and producers wanting to benefit from sustainable practices. Now, we have taken this a significant step further. There are still significant barriers to supplying and buying segregated, physical palm products on a global basis. Some producers cannot export their material to key demand markets; others are RSPO-certified but are unable to sell their material into the segregated supply chain.

He continued: “These growers are often located in areas where there is an urgent need for growth in the uptake of RSPO-certified sustainable palm oil. GreenPalm enables all RSPO-certified producers and all buyers, regardless of their location, to play a part in the sustainable palm movement. This inclusivity is vital to driving change in the palm industry, and to growing demand in countries outside the EU and North America.”