Launched in time for consumers to make a New Year resolution in support of sustainable palm oil
December 10, 2012, International – The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), the international multi-stakeholder organization for certified sustainable palm oil, recently launched its Trademark Consumer Guide that itemises the brands that use Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO) together with the type of products and markets they are available in. The guide is aimed at assisting consumers to have the resources and information at their fingertips to enable them to make responsible and informed choices.
The guide which will be periodically updated currently features 9 product categories, comprising of Biscuits, Bread / Cakes, Candles, Cereals, Cooking Oil, Popcorn, Snacks, Soaps and Spreads from 19 brands that include household names such as Body Shop, Carrefour, L’Occitane, Marks & Spencer and Walmart among others.
According to Darrel Webber, Secretary General of the RSPO Secretariat: “Supporting brands that carry the RSPO Trademark is important as it encourages organizations to further promote sustainable palm oil in protecting forests, conserving wildlife and caring for the welfare of communities and workers. 2012 is coming to an end – and the trademark has been in the market for just over a year. For companies around the world, we urge them to continue to demonstrate the urgency in adopting the trademark to support consumer awareness in making informed and responsible buying decisions. For consumers around the world, with a new year revealing itself around the corner, let us remind ourselves of the role we can each play in making it a resolution to be discerning and support products that commit to a larger cause.”
The RSPO Trademark, which was launched in June 2011, is a global trademark symbolising products that commit towards RSPO Certified Sustainable Palm Oil. Key nations have progressively come forward to pledge their commitment towards 100% RSPO CSPO such as the Netherlands; Belgium and United Kingdom, and many more are in the process of emulating similar undertakings. International companies such as Unilever, Nestle, Ferrero, Johnson & Johnson, P&G, amongst many others have also pledged their 100% commitment in the near future. To date, the RSPO Trademark has been licensed to 98 companies across 18 countries worldwide.
Available via this link
http://www.rspo.org/en/rspo_trademark_shopping_guide - the Trademark Consumer Guide can either be downloaded to be viewed online and is compatible with mobile devices or it can be downloaded to be printed and folded into a convenient pocket-size booklet that consumers can bring along the next time they go shopping. Readers are requested to register before accessing the guide so that they can automatically receive the latest versions as they are periodically updated.
About RSPO
In response to the urgent and pressing global call for sustainably-produced palm oil, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) was formed in 2004 with the objective of promoting the growth and use of sustainable oil palm products through credible global standards and engagement of stakeholders. The seat of the association is in Zurich, Switzerland, while the secretariat is currently based in Kuala Lumpur with a satellite office in Jakarta.
RSPO is a not-for-profit association that unites stakeholders from seven sectors of the palm oil industry - oil palm producers, palm oil processors or traders, consumer goods manufacturers, retailers, banks and investors, environmental or nature conservation NGOs and social or developmental NGOs - to develop and implement global standards for sustainable palm oil.
Such multi-stakeholder representation is mirrored in the governance structure of RSPO such that seats in the Executive Board and project-level Working Groups are fairly allocated to each sector. In this way, RSPO lives out the philosophy of the "roundtable" by giving equal rights to each stakeholder group to bring group-specific agendas to the roundtable, facilitating traditionally adversarial stakeholders and business competitors to work together towards a common objective and make decisions by consensus.
For more information, please contact:
Contact for RSPO Secretariat:
Anne Gabriel, Communications Director | T: +603-22012053 |
[email protected]
Contact for Europe:
Giovanni Colombo, Hill+Knowlton Strategies | T: +32 473 844 903 or +32 (0)2 231 50 19 |
[email protected]
Contact for Indonesia:
Desi Kusumadewi, RSPO Indonesia Director | T: +62 21 5794 0222 |
[email protected]
Contact for India:
Arneeta Vasudeva, Hill+Knowlton Strategies | T: +91-124-4967316 |
[email protected]
Contact for China:
Peter Headden, Hill+Knowlton Strategies | T: (86 10) 5861 7597 |
[email protected]
