Our mission is to be a MAJOR force in conserving biodiversity worldwide. We recognise that an ever increasing demand for natural resources is putting tremendous pressure on ecosystems and wildlife globally. We are COMMITTED to improving environmental performance, including the use of sustainable resources in ALL of our business operations.
We’re concerned with the deforestation, loss of biodiversity and greenhouse gas emissions which result from the unsustainable production of palm oil.
We recognise the importance of the palm oil industry to the economy in developing countries and acknowledge that as the cheapest, most high yielding and versatile vegetable oil on the market, transforming the market to a sustainable and traceable supply of palm oil is the most responsible path. We believe boycotting palm oil would increase demand for other less efficient edible oils and have negative environmental impacts elsewhere.
Creating a market for Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO) is the first step to ensuring that the palm oil industry impacts as little as possible on the biodiversity of the regions it is grown in. The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is the most widely recognised certification standard. We welcome the revised principles and criteria (November 2018) as well as its positive move towards deforestation-free standards. We’ll continue to support improvements in enforcing and enhancing these principles to ensure the scheme is a traceable and transparent process.
Find out more about our SUSTAINABLE PALM OIL Campaign!
Our ethical business policy sets out guidelines for our own sustainable procurement. We have taken steps to remove unsustainable palm oil from our supply chain through annual supplier audits which ensure we meet our policy. We support RSPO CSPO that is Identity Preserved and Segregated and encourage our suppliers to move towards these physical supply chains.
Chester Zoo is committed to supporting the market transformation to a fully sustainable palm oil supply through engaging with various stakeholders locally, nationally and globally to find solutions to this conservation problem and continue to influence many sectors in the palm oil supply chain and promote the use of sustainable palm oil, whilst also encouraging manufacturers and suppliers we work with to take positive steps toward certified sustainable, deforestation-free supply chains.
Through our field conservation programmes, we’ll continue our partnership with organisations who are committed to protecting the biodiversity of areas impacted by unsustainable palm oil production and are working with companies in palm oil producing countries to achieve sustainable production.
We recognise that increasing the demand for CSPO is essential and remain committed to actively promoting and raising awareness of sustainable palm oil use to a wider audience through our education and marketing channels and through Chester Zoo’s Sustainable Palm Oil Challenge.
*Our position statement refers to food products, animal feed, cleaning and personal care products. We will continuously review this policy.
Appendix:
The RSPO has 4 approved supply chain models for its certified palm oil (1)
• Identity preserved – The oil delivered to the end user is traceable to the particular mill and its supply base.
• Segregated – The oil delivered to the end user comes only from certified sources. Oils from different certified sources can be mixed.
• Mass balance – Certified oil is tracked throughout the supply chain. It can be mixed with non-certified oil but the volumes of each are tracked and the correct proportions are sold as certified and non-certified.
• Book and claim – Certificate trading, where an oil mill can gain credits for volumes of certified oil produced and sell these to an end user. This is independent of the physical supply chain.
DEFRA UK Statement on Sustainable Palm Oil, November 2013
TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE
We’re the world’s first sustainable palm oil city – but we don’t want to stop there, we want to make it the norm! And we need your help to do this!