2021 Annual Progress Report for the UK Roundtable on Sourcing Sustainable Palm Oil
On behalf of the UK Roundtable on Sourcing Sustainable Palm Oil, Efeca has written the 2021 Annual Progress Report (published in November 2022).
Since the inception of the UK Roundtable on Sourcing Sustainable Palm Oil in 2012, a decade of reporting has shown that the proportion of UK imports of palm and palm kernel oil that can be reported as certified sustainable has increased from 16% in 2010 to 72% in 2021. The vast majority of remaining imports are likely to be sourced through a form of assurance, such as an NDPE (No Deforestation, no Peatland, no Exploitation) policy. Whilst this percentage has remained roughly consistent since 2015, during this time progress has been made in transitioning to Segregated supply chains, with around 80% of imports (that this report has full visibility of) certified to an RSPO Segregated supply chain model.
Gaps in the UK market do remain. Progress in sustainable sourcing in the Out of Home sector is not necessarily reflected in communication and claims, whilst the traceability challenges presented by complex derivative and by-product supply chains remain key issues for the home & personal care and animal feed sectors. Moving forward, the Efeca and UK Roundtable will continue to support the UK market to address these gaps through the sharing of technical assistance, information and resources. Beyond the UK, efforts will focus on developing partnerships with producer country initiatives.
As a small user of around 0.5% of the global palm oil volume, we believe the UK’s greatest impact will not be had through a solely top-down approach of sourcing sustainable palm oil, but rather through also working to align efforts globally across supply chains to help raise the base standard of production.
