Slow Sales of Sustainable Palm Oil Threaten Tropical Forests; WWF to Grade Palm Oil Buyers

WASHINGTON--(Business Wire)--
New figures released by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) today show that only 1 percent
of the sustainable palm oil available on the market has been bought, raising
concerns that one of the major solutions to halting deforestation of tropical
forests is not catching on fast enough. Rapid increases in the production of
palm oil, which is found in everything from cosmetics to ice cream to chocolate
bars, has caused extensive land clearing in places like Borneo and Sumatra,
resulting in loss of habitat for endangered species like tigers and orangutans
and contributing to climate change.

Palm oil use has doubled over the last four years in the U.S., mostly in
response to rising concerns about trans fats. WWF helped set up the Roundtable
on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) as an international body for the industry to
develop sustainability standards. Certified sustainable palm oil, available
since November 2008, provides assurance that valuable tropical forests have not
been cleared and that environmental and social safeguards have been met during
production. Yet further production will hinge on manufacturers and retailers
committing to buy what`s available.

In a bid to speed up the "sluggish performance," WWF will assess the world`s
major users of palm oil over the next six months and publish a Palm Oil Buyer`s
Scorecard highlighting whether or not companies have supported sustainable palm
oil and fulfilled their commitments to purchase it.

"So far, around 1.3 million tons of certified sustainable palm oil have been
produced, but less than 15,000 tons have been sold," said David McLaughlin, vice
president of agriculture for WWF. "This sluggish demand from palm oil buyers,
such as supermarkets, food and cosmetic manufacturers, could undermine the
success of sustainability efforts and threatens the remaining natural tropical
forests of Southeast Asia, as well as other forests where oil palm is set to
expand, such as the Amazon."

"The tropical forests of Borneo and Sumatra are being cleared at such a rapid
pace that the carbon emissions from this deforestation are greater than the
industrial emissions of some developed countries," said Ginny Ng, WWF senior
program officer for Borneo and Sumatra. "The orangutans, elephants, tigers and
rhinos on these islands don`t stand a chance of survival if their forests aren`t
protected. Creating a demand for sustainably grown palm oil is essential to
their survival."

WWF asks all companies buying palm oil to make public commitments that they will
use 100 percent certified sustainable palm oil by 2015; to make public their
plans with deadlines to achieve this goal; and to begin purchasing certified
sustainable palm oil immediately.

The Palm Oil Buyer`s Scorecard will rank the commitments and actions of major
global retailers, manufacturers and traders that buy palm oil. Companies will be
scored on a variety of criteria relating to their commitments to, and actions
on, sustainable palm oil. The scores are meant to help consumers evaluate the
performance of these companies and encourage the companies themselves to better
support the use of certified sustainable palm oil.

NOTE TO EDITORS:

1. As a founding member of the RSPO, WWF has worked since 2002 with the palm oil
industry to ensure that the RSPO standards contain robust social and
environmental criteria, including a prohibition on the conversion of valuable
forests. The RSPO brings together oil palm growers, oil processors, food
companies, retailers, NGOs and investors to help ensure that no rainforest areas
are sacrificed for new palm oil plantations, that all plantations minimize their
environmental impacts and that basic rights of local peoples and plantation
workers are fully respected.

2. The RSPO began in 2002 as an informal cooperation on production and usage of
sustainable palm oil among Aarhus United UK Ltd, Golden Hope Plantations Berhad,
Migros, Malaysian Palm Oil Association, Sainsbury`s and Unilever together with
WWF. These organizations held the first Roundtable meeting in August 2003 in
Kuala Lumpur in order to prepare the foundation for the organizational and
governance structure that resulted in the formation of the RSPO. Since then the
RSPO has grown to include more than 300 members between them accounting for more
than 35% of global palm oil production.

3. The oil palm tree originated in West Africa but it has been planted
successfully in many tropical regions including the world`s largest exporters of
palm oil, Indonesia and Malaysia. Over 43 million tons of palm oil are produced
worldwide and comprise a major food source all over the world. Palm oil is used
in a wide variety of foods including margarine, cooking oil, chips, cakes,
biscuits and pastries. Palm oil derivatives are also found in cosmetics, soaps,
shampoos and detergents. Sales in Europe have grown recently due to palm oil
being an effective substitute for partially hydrogenated soft oils such as those
produced from soy oil, rapeseed and sunflower thereby eliminating trans-fatty
acids from many products.

4. WWF recognizes that palm oil is a basic foodstuff with high consumer demand.
Europe imports 2.7 million tons of vegetable oil annually for food and soaps,
making it the third biggest market for palm oil in the world, after India and
China. In addition, palm oil is increasingly used to replace fossil fuels in the
transport and energy sectors of (mainly) developed countries. Taking into
account the growing demand for palm oil for bioenergy as well as traditional
uses, the FAO estimates that palm oil production will double between 1999/2001
and 2030.

5. Despite having the highest yield per hectare of any oil or oilseed crop, it
is recognized that there are environmental pressures on its expansion to
eco-sensitive areas, particularly as oil palm can only be cultivated in tropical
areas of Asia, Africa and America. Oil palm plantations have often imposed
environmental and social costs due to indiscriminate forest clearing, loss of
habitat important to threatened and endangered species such as orangutan,
elephants and tigers, uncontrolled burning with related haze, and disregard for
the rights and interests of local communities.

ABOUT WORLD WILDLIFE FUND

WWF is the world`s leading conservation organization, working in 100 countries
for nearly half a century. With the support of almost 5 million members
worldwide, WWF is dedicated to delivering science-based solutions to preserve
the diversity and abundance of life on Earth, halt the degradation of the
environment and combat climate change. Visit www.worldwildlife.org to learn
more.

WWF
Steve Ertel
202-495-4562 - office
202-460-4641 - mobile
steve.ertel@wwfus.org

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