Palm oil scheme to name non-compliant members

The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is to publish a list of members that are not meeting its code of conduct. The organisation, the largest sustainability roundtable for an agricultural commodity, will agree further sanctions later this year.

According to the RSPO code of conduct, members must draw up and implement a plan on the production, procurement and use of certified sustainable palm oil and must report annually on their progress to the multi-stakeholder scheme.
The plan must set a "sufficiently challenging" deadline to reach 100% production or use of certified oil, a phrase that members can interpret as they wish.
But many members have continued to ignore the requirements. Last year, 148 of 359 RSPO member palm oil producers, processors and retailers failed to report on progress, while significant numbers have not even set their own deadlines.
Last Thursday, the RSPO's annual general meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Indonesia, passed a resolution calling on all members to come up to scratch by the next AGM in November or face being named and possible (as yet unspecified) sanctions.

Most major European firms, including Tesco, Carrefour and IKEA, are complying with the scheme. Non-compliant members include BP, Kraft and Associated British Foods (ABF).
BP told ENDS that it intends to comply but gave no further details. Kraft said it had made some progress but did not say when it would report to the RSPO. ABF did not respond.

Delegates at last week's annual meeting also passed a resolution that will make it easier for future AGMs to reach quorum. The meeting had had to be rescheduled after failing to reach the required 50% quorum last November. In future, only 80 ordinary RSPO members will need to be present or represented to hold an AGM.