Often without knowing it, we use many products in which palm oil has been processed every day: for example creams , shower gels and lipsticks, but also candles, soap, detergents, chocolate bars, ice cream, frozen pizza, margarine – the all-rounder is even contained in biofuels. Cosmetic companies like to use the ingredient because it gently nourishes dry skin while protecting against harmful free radicals. In the food industry, on the other hand, palm oil is particularly popular because it improves the taste and gives foods a wide variety of properties: it melts chocolate , for example, but also makes margarine firm and beautifully orange.
Table of Contents
Palm oil – an all-rounder that has come under criticism
Palm oil can do all of this, but it has now fallen into disrepute: One reason for this is that rainforest is cleared to grow the oil palm from which it is extracted. The hardest hit are Malaysia and Indonesia, where around 85 percent of palm oil comes from. In Indonesia alone, almost 1.5 million hectares of rainforest had to give way between 1990 and 2005 – and the need for land is increasing. Since the rainforest floor is particularly rich in carbon, which is released by burning and clearing, global warming continues to increase. As a result, little Indonesia, with three billion tons, has now become the third largest producer of greenhouse gases – behind the geographical giants USA and China.
In addition, slash and burn promotes the formation of harmful smog . With the disappearance of the rainforest, many animals will also lose their homes – such as orangutans, Sumatran tigers or Javan rhinos. The consumption of conventional palm oil contributes directly to their eradication. Finally, the people living in the cultivation areas also suffer, being driven off their land or employed as workers on palm oil plantations for low wages.
Nevertheless, palm oil is not inherently bad
So why not just buy products with other vegetable oils, as some consumers are consciously doing? Because more and more environmentalists are now warning that this change would lead to an even greater need for land: “The oil palm is a highly efficient crop,” says Martina Fleckenstein, head of the Department of Agriculture and Land Use Change at the environmental foundation World Wide Fund for Nature ( WWF ) Germany . For the amount of oil it produces, rapeseed and sunflowers require four and a half times the area, and soy plants even eight times as much. ” The switch from palm oil to other vegetable oil would therefore only lead to similar cultivation problems in other tropical countries,” explains Martina Fleckenstein.
First steps that lead in the right direction
Sustainable cultivation could at least alleviate the problem: for example, oil palms should only be cultivated on fallow land, idle arable land and soil with low carbon content. Cut palm fronds, cleared trees and unusable fruit would have to be used as fertilizer to maintain the humus content of the soil, and field workers would have to receive a fair minimum wage.
As a first step in this direction, the WWF, the development organization Oxfam, palm oil producers, traders, banks and investors founded the so-called Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil in 2004 – a round table for sustainably produced palm oil, which certifies those manufacturers who produce more do for nature conservation than is required by law. However, there is criticism that this is still a long way from sustainable cultivation – and that many members are only concerned with polishing their green image with the seal.
The Sustainable Palm Oil Forum, founded in 2013, goes a little further, in which the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture as well as companies, associations and non-governmental organizations such as the WWF are represented. All members commit to using sustainably grown palm oil, for which e.g. For example, no rainforest was cleared, as few biocides as possible were used and social standards were observed. The aim is to increase the requirements in the future so that, for example, no more oil palms are grown on peat soils and other areas with a high carbon content. But at least the organization already shows the right way.
That’s what the seals mean
RSPO: When manufacturing the palm oil it contains, e.g. B. respected the land ownership rights of smallholders. In addition, no forest with “high protection value” is cut down – however, cultivation on peat soils and the use of aggressive pesticides are still permitted.
FONAP: It contains sustainable palm oil for which no rainforest was cleared. However, so-called palm oil derivatives, on which emulsifiers or surfactants are based, can also be mixed with conventional palm oil because of their low availability.
NATRUE: Products may only consist of natural, near-natural and nature-identical ingredients. In addition, manufacturers must submit an environmental report that shows how sustainability is promoted in the best possible way during production.
We can make a contribution now
There are already a number of organic cosmetics seals, such as Natrue, which label products that only contain sustainably produced palm oil. Overall, however, this careful handling only applies to 30 percent of the products available from us and we cannot put an immediate end to the environmental damage caused by conventionally grown palm oil. However, by paying attention to the seal for sustainable cultivation for products containing palm oil in supermarkets and drugstores, we show our awareness of nature conservation and send a signal to all companies that have not yet changed their production.
Unfortunately, it is not always clear whether a product contains palm oil, since it can have very different names on the list of ingredients. In addition, smartphone apps such as “Codecheck” reveal which cosmetic products and foods contain palm oil while shopping. What we can also try: to consume foods containing palm oil such as chocolate, confectionery and snacks or ready meals a little more consciously . A little less, a little less often – for us and our environment.
