RSPO supports WWF #BeliYangBaik campaign to encourage sustainable palm oil-based products

Jakarta, Indonesia, June 10, 2015 – RSPO is supporting WWF #BeliYangBaik (“buy the good one”) campaign to encourage the presence of sustainable palm-oil based products in Indonesia market. The campaign, recently launched by WWF-Indonesia, invites consumers to play a wiser role by purchasing environmentally friendly products and encouraging positive changes in their lifestyle.

Palm oil is a very popular commodity used in many consumer products such as cooking oil, margarine, chocolate, ice cream, soaps, cosmetics, and fuel for cars and power plants. Unfortunately, palm oil production is often linked with negative environmental impacts and social conflict related to land clearing for palm oil cultivation.

Through education and promotion of sustainable practices, more and more players in the palm oil industry can commit to adopt sustainable practices and put higher attention to environmental, social, economic and legal aspects in their operations. In the RSPO, these practices are described by a set of Principles and Criteria that must be implemented by palm oil growers who are member of the organisation.

This phased transition has resulted in the increasing of Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO) production, reaching 12.65 million ton of CSPO at the end of April 2015, just 7 years since the Principles and Criteria was first implemented in 2008. This number contributes for about 20% of the world’s total Crude Palm Oil (CPO) production.

Indonesia is a very important player to achieve global market transformation towards sustainable palm oil production. Indonesia is the biggest CSPO producer contributing 51% or 6.39 million ton from 12.65 million ton CSPO production, followed with Malaysia with 42%.

The increase of sustainable palm oil production should also be supported with market uptake. Aside from being the largest producer of palm oil, Indonesia is also the largest consumer of the commodity. RSPO supports #BeliYangBaik campaign to encourage the presence of sustainable palm-oil based products in Indonesia market.

Desi Kusumadewi, RSPO Indonesia Director said “Besides being the largest sustainable palm oil producer in the world, Indonesia can also play a part in consuming more environmentally friendly and sustainable palm oil-based products. The #BeliYangBaik initiative will allow consumer to contribute to a better economy, environment preservation and social welfare for Indonesia as a benefit from sustainable practices in palm oil cultivation, and to encourage more manufacturers to provide sustainable and environmentally friendly products. This will help to achieve market transformation to make sustainable palm oil as a norm.”

Putra Agung, Sustainable Palm Oil Program Manager WWF-Indonesia, explained that the #BeliYangBaik campaign was launched to encourage public appreciation to environmentally friendly products. “#BeliYangBaik is in line with this year’s World Environment Day global message, which is 7 Billion Dreams, One Planet, Consume with Care. We only have one earth, we do not have any other resource, while world’s population keeps on increasing. All of us, as consumers, need to be more thoughtful in choosing the products we buy.”

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 satellite offices in Jakarta, London and Zoetermeer (NL).

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.