ZSL on palm oil’s commitments versus activity gap

Michael Guindon, palm oil technical adviser with ZSL, talks with Ian Welsh about how the most recent SPOTT tool analysis, assessing palm oil, has provided evidence of positive progress in the sector on the one hand, while also highlighting that many companies still have a lot to do. For example: only half of companies that have no deforestation commitments are transparent on how they are monitoring their progress against them.

Guindon also argues that while many palm oil companies have been focused on producing solid policies on deforestation, there are significant implementation gaps in the way of achieving 2020 commitments, but that the revised RSPO principles and criteria will help. And while it is tempting for retailers to ban palm oil, Guindon puts the case for why this is counterproductive.