Kellogg’s plumps for palm oil offsetting

The world’s largest cereal manufacturer has bought offset certificates in a new ‘palm oil trading’ scheme, citing the present unavailability of sustainable palm oil for use in its products as the reason for doing so.

Kellogg’s, which uses about 0.1 per cent of the world’s total supply of palm oil annually, has become the first US food industry company to offset all its palm oil use with GreenPalm sustainable certificates.

GreenPalm, endorsed by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil as an official broker for certificates, uses the funds from its trading scheme to promote wider uptake of sustainable palm production, and pays a premium to the producers.

By selling certificates through the GreenPalm programme, palm oil producers can earn more for their crop. Both GreenPalm and Kellogg’s claim sourcing sustainable palm oil for use is too difficult and expensive, and GreenPalm estimates that only six per cent of the world’s supply is sustainably grown.

Under the offsetting scheme, Kellogg’s will contribute to a premium paid to producers using sustainable production processes, and will promote production that is less harmful to the environment.

Kellogg’s aims to purchase sustainable palm oil once there is a ‘segregated’ supply, unmixed with other palm oil from the plantations and mills across the world with which it is now sold.

Dave McLaughlin, agriculture vice-president at WWF, said: Kellogg’s efforts ‘should be applauded’ and will encourage suppliers ‘to take the necessary steps to construct a segregated supply chain applauded.’