Lang
The palm oil certification body, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), has voted to adopt a major new standard aimed at balancing conservation goals with the practical realities of the palm oil industry.
RSPO members voted to adopt the 2024 RSPO Principles and Criteria (P&C) and the Independent Smallholder (ISH) Standard on November 13 during the 21st RSPO General Assembly (GA21) in Bangkok, Thailand.
The revised standard, which sets mandatory targets and requirements for producing and sourcing RSPO-certified sustainable palm oil, is the first update since 2018.
The organization said on November 13 that the new standards will take effect after a 12-month transition period.
Key improvements in the 2024 RSPO standards include a stronger approach to deforestation and environmental sustainability to ensure responsible land clearing; the introduction of human rights due diligence; stronger smallholder inclusion; and a simplified audit process for members, certification bodies, and accreditation bodies.
RSPO chief executive Joseph D’Cruz said the standards review process benefited from insights from smallholders, social and environmental NGOs, auditors, and experts from Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and India over two years.
He welcomed the adoption of the 2024 standards by RSPO members, saying they introduced stronger, more ambitious, and clearer standards that address the challenges of the time, from worker protection to combating deforestation.
Although the new standard’s provisions to halt deforestation, ban planting on peatland, and improve protection of worker and community rights were welcomed, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) said RSPO still faces a range of challenges.
According to the EIA, RSPO has so far failed to ensure sufficient compliance with its standards, and only around half of RSPO-certified palm oil is actually sold.
In addition, the EIA said standards related to legality were not significantly strengthened.
The agency said plantations only need to be legal at the time of certification, meaning they may have operated illegally in the past and later regularized their status.
Furthermore, certified mills may receive oil palm fruit from illegal sources for up to three years if the fruit is sourced indirectly, according to the agency.
The EIA also said the new principles and criteria still include exceptions to the no-deforestation rule, which could allow some deforestation.
RSPO said that by 2023, RSPO certification had protected more than 466,600 hectares of high conservation value (HCV) and high carbon stock (HCS) forests since adoption of the HCV approach in November 2005 and the HCS approach in November 2018.
Including other vital ecosystems, RSPO certification has protected and restored about 646,700 hectares of forests and areas including tropical peatlands and water reserves globally, the organization said.
Laszlo Mathe, accreditation program manager at RSPO assurance services provider Assurance Services International (ASI), said the updated text is clearer and helps remove some ambiguities observed during audits.
He added that, for example, regarding the land-use change analysis methodology, auditors had observed that farmers in some regions had misunderstood the requirements. Greater clarity will be a major benefit, especially given recent developments such as the EUDR.