Scorecard Says Palm Oil Commitments Absent or Incomplete

Twenty-four out of 30 top companies in the packaged food, fast food and personal care industries have inadequate commitments or lack commitments altogether for sourcing sustainable palm oil for their products, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).

A scorecard, Donuts, Deodorant and Deforestation: Scoring America’s Top Brands on their Palm Oil Commitments, scored the 10 largest companies in each of the three sectors and found that the majority do not have commitments in place to fully protect forests or peatlands.

The fast food sector scored the worst by far, UCS said. Only two fast food companies, McDonald’s and Subway, had strong enough commitments to receive points, though even those commitments are vague and outdated.

The personal care sector scores were mixed as many of these companies rely on Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil certification to meet their commitments. UCS said this certification is an improvement over status quo production methods, but is not strong enough to protect all forests and peatlands.