Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certifies palm oil, palm kernel oil and derivatives. It guarantees and enhances the products obtained with palm oil and palm kernel oil from crops managed according to environmental and social sustainability criteria.
INFORMATIONS
RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil) is a multi-stakeholder non-governmental organization founded in 2004 to minimize the environmental and social impacts deriving from the cultivation of palm oil, through the introduction of a sustainability standard composed of different social, economic and environmental parameters. The RSPO certification is the main sustainability standard in the sector worldwide. To date, millions of tons of palm oil (20% of total world production) are produced sustainably, covering about 3.5 million hectares of plantations. The strength of the RSPO certification is the use of independent certification bodies, which ensure product certification along the entire supply chain. Since 2008, sustainable palm oil production has grown more than 18 times and today RSPO can count on more than 2,000 members across the world. The RSPO standard and certification aim to protect the market, industry and the supply chain from the indiscriminate spread of palm oil, whose uncontrolled production is putting at risk important areas of rainforest or areas previously used for food production , which are converted to oil palm cultivation. According to the RSPO the solution to environmental problems can pass through the use of certified and sustainable palm oil (CSPO). Massive substitution of palm oil with other lower yielding vegetable oils could in fact cause, for the same volume produced, a greater consumption of soil, putting the planet’s forests even more at risk. Palm oil is mainly used in the food industry, in a wide range of food products such as cooking oils, margarine, pastry fats, sweets, biscuits, ice cream and other types of food, but the it is also used in cosmetic products, detergents and biofuels. ICEA is authorized to check and certify compliance with the RSPO Supply Chain Certification Standard.
Mass Balance (MB)
The first level of certification is Mass Balance (MB). This allows a mixture of palm oil from certified mills (SPO / SPKO and / or derivatives) with conventional palm oil (PO and PKO and / or derivatives) during transport and storage. For this mechanism only a final mass balance is required (eg the same quantities of SPO, compared to those of PO), and an administrative control.
Segregated (SG)
In this case, palm / palm kernel oil (SPO / SPKO) and / or certified derivatives must be kept well separated and identified by conventional ones. All the steps along the supply chain – from certified plantations to the final product – must be traced. This is a more demanding degree of certification both in terms of time and costs compared to Mass Balance (MB).
Identity Preserved (IP)
It is the highest level of commitment and certification and allows to go back up the supply chain to the group of plantations of origin of palm oil / certified palm kernel (SPO / SPKO). Also in this case the certified oil must be kept physically isolated and identified by palm oil from other conventional sources.
