Plans to map the palm oil supply chain to the UK

We must reap the benefits of palm oil, but manage the environmental costs
From the margarine we eat to the wheels on our cars to the shampoo in our showers, palm oil is everywhere. That's why we must strive to make it sustainable, says Caroline Spelman, secretary of state for the environment
Caroline Spelman guardian.co.uk 13 Jul 10;

We all like to think we have the power to make our own ethical choices when we shop; that our personal decision to buy Fairtrade or free-range will make a difference. But what if we don't have that choice? What if, regardless of our best intentions, we are not given the option to choose sustainably?

Enter palm oil. It's ubiquitous. It's in the margarine we spread on our toast, the shampoo we washed our hair with and in the tyres of the transport that brought us to work.

Palm oil is perhaps the ultimate miracle product. It's high-yielding, versatile, good for our health and cholesterol-free. It is also powering many of the emerging economies of south-east Asia – in Indonesia alone it employs 2 million people.

But if it's a miracle, it's one with devastating side effects. Palm oil plantations are destroying forests and peat lands and playing havoc with ecosystems and biodiversity. Deforestation costs anything between $2-5tn dollars a year and causes 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

So while palm oil feeds economies, it's also irrevocably damaging them. As demand for it grows, in Europe and in the burgeoning economies of India, China and the rest of the world, we will all start paying the unaffordable environmental costs.

We need to find a way to reap the benefits of palm oil while managing the costs.

Environmental and development charities have been arguing the case for sustainable palm oil for years. Many businesses now have targets for when all of the palm oil they use will be sustainable – many, but by no means all. In this, the first ever International Year of Biodiversity, it's time to do something about it.

So today, in front of an international business audience, I'm announcing that, starting next month, we will begin the process of mapping the palm oil supply chain to the UK. Working with businesses and the public sector we aim to find out what we're using palm oil for, where we are getting it from and if it's sustainable.

What we find will help us work with industry and NGOs alike to produce a plan to help shift Britain's sourcing of palm oil to a sustainable footing. This is a milestone step in the right direction but commitments from other major international markets are still lacking – less than 4% of the global supply of palm oil is certified from sustainable sources.

Rather than frowning at emerging economies, we should offer them a helping hand. So this month we're also jointly funding a project with the Chinese Chamber of Commerce to create the business rationale for sustainable palm oil in China and suggestions for how to encourage that switch. It could prove to be a great model for other growing economies.

The prime minister has said he wants this to be the greenest government ever. The need to halt our planet's environmental destruction is becoming clearer every day. We have a responsibility to ourselves and future generations to take firm steps to turn the tide. Palm oil may be a miracle product but it is also nature's gift to us. It is time to respect the giver, as well as the gift.

• Caroline Spelman is secretary of the state for the environment