Burning Rain Forest Hard Habit to Break in Palm Oil Industry

Cleaning up the image of companies that produce the world’s most-consumed vegetable oil is proving more difficult and costly than the industry anticipated.

Palm oil, used in everything from food to car fuel to cosmetics, has drawn the ire of environmentalists for years. Some farmers in Indonesia and Malaysia have burned rain forests to make way for new palm plantations, shrinking animal habitat and compounding water and air pollution across Southeast Asia. To avoid a consumer backlash, the industry created certification standards intended to show it could meet growing demand without damaging resources.