Sustainable palm oil: Australia

WWF Palm Oil Buyers' Scorecard Australia 2010

How 'orang-utan friendly' is the palm oil imported and manufactured in Australia?
From chocolate to ice cream-from breads to biscuits-palm oil is used in a variety of products we purchase every day. But the true cost of palm oil is being paid in high-biodiversity tropical rainforests, which continue to be cleared for ever expanding oil palm plantations.

Download the Scorecard results here

WWF Palm Oil Buyers' Scorecard Australia 2010

This Scorecard is an assessment of the palm oil purchasing practices of six major Food Sector companies in Australia that produce and sell everyday consumer products (read the press release).

Help Stop Land Clearing Now »

The performance of each company in the Scorecard was assessed against a set of objective criteria relating to their commitments to, and actions on, responsible purchasing of palm oil.

Why is WWF producing this palm oil Scorecard?

The scorecard is a snapshot in time that gives the companies involved a baseline from which they can track future progress over the coming years
The scorecard should encourage action and leadership on this issue to build awareness of sustainable palm oil among companies and demonstrate that companies can be part of the solution
To show palm oil producers around the world that there is a mainstream and growing market for sustainably produced palm oil and that Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO) is available and is an alternative to unsustainable palm oil.

Download Palm Oil Scorecard

Benefits for companies, benefits for forests

By supporting the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and using only CSPO, companies can help slow down deforestation and the disappearance of some of Earth's most amazing and threatened wildlife, including Sumatran tigers, elephants and orang-utans.

Choosing sustainable palm oil also helps companies reduce climate change impacts, as slashing forests for oil palm plantations can contribute to the release of greenhouse gas emissions.

What does WWF ask from companies buying palm oil?

Become an active member of the RSPO
Put in place policies and systems to control where palm oil is sourced from
Make public commitments for the use of 100% Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO) by 2015 at the latest
Begin purchasing certified sustainable palm oil immediately

Download the WWF European Palm Oil Buyers' Scorecard 2009 to view and compare these results.

What else you can do to help

Volunteer with WWF or your local conservation group
Become a regular giver
Buy from the Shop
Participate in Earth Hour and other climate change events
Tips to reduce your personal footprint
Call or Email a politician to urge them to act on Climate Change and sustainability
Become an advocate for WWF – Twitter, Facebook, YouTube
Sign up to our newsletter
Join panda passport
Leave a Bequest

What can I do?

By requesting that retailers and manufacturers use sustainable palm oil in every day products (margarine, ice cream, shampoo, soap and other cosmetics), consumers can help to motivate the companies to increase their commitments.

In Australia palm oil does not need to be labeled on the product packaging, instead all vegetable oils, whether it be sunflower oil, canola oil or palm oil, will likely just be listed as 'vegetable oil'.

To find out whether the product you buy that lists 'vegetable oil' is actually palm oil, you should contact the company who made the product and ask them directly whether they are using palm oil and if so, is it CSPO?

If you support the following Food Standards Amendment - Truth in Labelling Palm Oil Bill 2009, you could request that your local Member support the Bill on your behalf. This bill, if passed, will mandate that a product containing sustainable palm oil be labelled as CS Palm Oil in the ingredients list.

Palm Oil Scorecard - so what's next?

WWFs continued assessment of retailers and manufacturers in the future will set even higher benchmarks on their use of sustainable palm oil (CSPO).

As China and India are responsible for almost a third of global palm oil imports, WWF will also consider including major palm oil buyers from these countries in later versions of the Scorecard, along with other markets such as North America.

Separately, WWF will shed light on the performance of traders in a separate Traders Scorecard to be published soon.

Help Stop Land Clearing Now »