Over the last few years I’ve seen articles and videos about the Palm Oil industry and how it’s bad for climate change.

I didn’t know what palm oil actually is and how can something that is found in so many everyday products be bad for the environment. What is it? Where does it come from? What everyday products contain it? Is sustainable palm oil really sustainable? What are the alternatives?

As someone who is studying towards a BSc in Environmental Science, I’m learning to question the source of a statistic; are they showing us the whole picture and what is their agenda.

Some organisations will only tell us what they want us to know because it fits within the agenda, that can sometimes mean the reader has been misled. I want to find out for myself what’s the issue with palm oil.

What is Palm Oil?

Palm oil is a type of vegetable oil that comes from the fruit of the oil palm tree. Its scientific term is Elaeis guineensis. It’s quite cheap and therefore popular. For example, Palm kernel oil is an edible plant oil which comes from the kernel of the oil palm tree.

Where does it come from?

Although, Oil Palm trees are native to West Africa, palm oil plantations occur in almost all tropical countries due to the hot climates around the world close to the equator, within 10 degrees north or south, and part of tropical rainforests that are rich in biodiversity, in particular, Southeast Asia and Latin America. According to Forbes the top five biggest producers of palm oil in 2019 were; Indonesia: 42.5 million metric tons, Malaysia: 19 million metric tons, Thailand: 2.8 million metric tons, Colombia: 1.53 million metric tons and Nigeria: 1.02 million metric tons. They’re all associated with the fruit of oil palm trees.

How is palm oil produced?

I think to understand it’s apparent link to deforestation how it affects local communities for indigenous peoples, loss of biodiversity, and how it affects endangered species, we need to briefly look at where oil palm cultivation comes from and the rise in its global demand. In order to produce palm oil, forests (forest fires), and including their inhabitants, need to be cleared for the expansion of oil palm plantations. You may be familiar with seeing images of Orang-utans in relation to palm oil deforestation. The seeds are then planted to create a plantation and takes about four to five years for oil palms to grow to a point where their fruit is ready to be harvested. The tree will then produce fruit for about thirty years. In a video produced by GreenTV, it claims 45% of the producers of palm oil are smallholders lifting them out of poverty.

What everyday products contain palm oil?

According to an article by GoodToKnow, the following food products contain palm oil; Wall’s Soft Scoop Ice Cream, Dairy Milk chocolate and Maltesers, Flora Buttery margarine, Ritz crackers, Batchelors Super Noodles, Head and Shoulders shampoo, Dove original soap and much more. As you can tell, palm oil consumption is everywhere and in so many of our products.

How to identify if a product contains palm oil?

There are many products that use palm oil but isn’t always clear on the label.

I had a look around my bathroom and, based on the above list, the following everyday products contain palm oil; Cien Aloe Vera Bath soap (Sodium Palm Kernelate), Carex Original handwash (Sodium Laureth Sulfate), Colgate Max White White Crystals Toothpaste (Sodium Lauryl Sulfate), Cien Baby Shampoo (Sodium Laureth Sulfate), Oilatum Junior Bath Additive (Isopropyl palmitate), Maybelline Dream Brightening Creamy Concealer (ethylhexyl palmitate). The ingredients were on the item, the only one where it wasn’t displayed on the pack (probably on the cardboard box) was the toothpaste which why there’s a hyperlink to the product. You can also look for the certified sustainable palm oil symbol which tells us that it has been created from responsible sources. 

Is sustainable palm oil really sustainable?

It’s causing a lot of negative environmental impacts  as well as habitat destruction, where large areas of rainforest home are cleared and the reliance we have come to for the use of palm oil is staggering. No to mention there are some reports of child labour, human rights abuses, habitat loss, and the negative impacts it’s having on global warming and the increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

There needs to be a solution but I don’t know what it is.