Sustainable Palm Oil

Palm oil is the world’s most produced, consumed, and traded vegetable oil. It is also the world’s most efficiently produced vegetable oil with significantly higher yields per hectare compared to other vegetable oils.  It continues to make substantial contributions to many local and national economies across Asia, with Indonesia and Malaysia accounting for 86% of global palm oil production. 

However, rapid unsustainable expansion of palm oil in recent decades has come at a high cost for people and nature, e.g. causing deforestation, biodiversity loss, climate change and social conflicts. 

As Singapore focuses on sustainable development aligned with the Green Plan 2030, there is an important opportunity for key palm oil stakeholders operating in Singapore — buyers, traders, financial institutions and the government — to become powerful catalysts that enable the transition to a more sustainable palm oil industry, as outlined in WWF-Singapore’s palm oil report “In the palm of Singapore’s hand – advancing the sustainable palm oil agenda” 

The formation of Singapore Alliance for Sustainable Palm Oil (SASPO) was prompted by public outcry over 2015’s prolonged haze pollution. The vision of SASPO is to make ‘Certified Sustainable Palm Oil’ (CSPO) the norm, in order to mitigate haze, deforestation and habitat loss in the region.

SASPO is a business initiative that brings companies together across varying sectors to tackle supply chain issues around palm oil and work towards increasing the supply and demand of certified sustainable palm oil in Singapore.

Through SASPO, WWF-Singapore is providing businesses with guidance and best practices to help them lower their deforestation footprint and address the growing consumer demand for sustainability.