Palm Oil Importers Won't Meet Zero Deforestation Goals by 2020
- Third-party supply chains challenge compliance, report finds
- Most companies may achieve transparency to mill but not supply
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European palm oil importers are unlikely to be able to ensure that the products they sell are “deforestation-free” by the self-imposed goal of 2020, according to analysis by the Palm Oil Transparency Coalition.
While about 98% of the palm oil imported into Europe by the survey respondents can be traced to the mill it came from, thanks to efforts by producers, only about a third can be traced to the plantation it came from, the report said. That makes it hard to determine if third-party suppliers had destroyed forests to grow palm trees or if they used child or forced labor at some point in the supply chain.