Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government is taking steps to encourage manufacturers to (a) reduce and (b) end use of palm oil in their products; and if he will make a statement.

The Government is committed to tackling deforestation and supporting sustainable supply chains.

Oil palm is a very efficient crop, producing more oil per hectare than other vegetable oil crops, so we do not believe that encouraging manufacturers to end use of palm oil is the right approach. Encouraging companies to end their use of palm oil would encourage substitution with other oils (e.g. soybean, rapeseed, sunflower) which typically require significantly more land to produce, and may lead to greater deforestation, as more land is converted to agricultural use. According to a 2016 WWF report, palm oil replacements shift the problem and may make things worse.

However, the Government is strongly committed to achieving sustainably sourced palm oil, and we are working with the private sector and non-governmental organisations to create a UK market for sustainably sourced palm oil and reduce the environmental impact of palm oil production overseas. This approach has been successful in reducing the amount of unsustainably sourced palm oil imported to the UK. The UK’s latest progress report shows that we achieved 77% certified sustainable palm oil in 2018, up from 16% in 2010.

The Government has also consulted on the introduction of a new law to make sure businesses are not using products grown on illegally deforested land, helping to tackle climate change and prevent biodiversity loss. Our proposal would make it illegal for larger businesses to use forest risk commodities that have not been produced in accordance with relevant local laws, and they would need to take steps (undertake due diligence) to show that they have taken proportionate action to ensure this is the case. We believe this approach would facilitate partnership with producer countries around the world to uphold forest laws, supporting a greener, more resilient and inclusive global recovery. This is just one of the measures that the Government is considering in response to the findings of the Global Resource Initiative which reported in March 2020. The ‘due diligence’ consultation closed on 5 October 2020, and we will publish a response to it within 12 weeks on gov.uk summarising the feedback that we have received.

As one of over 75 nations to sign up to the Leaders’ Pledge for Nature, launched at the UN General Assembly in September 2020, the UK is driving action internationally as well as domestically. We will also champion sustainable supply chains as hosts of the international climate conference ‘COP26’ in 2021, and we are a signatory to the Amsterdam Declarations Partnership which aims to reverse forest loss by strengthening the protection of intact forests and supporting large scale forest restoration.