As man-made forest fires raged across Sumatra,Indonesia this year to create more palm oil plantations, American conservationists are fighting mad about the emissions that palm oil is adding to global warming.

Seattle, WA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 09/19/2013 -- From the drought stricken corn fields in Kansas to the looming threat of coastal communities in New Jersey, California and Florida being drowned by rising sea levels, Americans are protesting what they see as carbon emissions that are being added to the atmosphere unnecessarily.

The culprit is palm oil. It is a vegetable crop that is being touted as a sustainable option to supply the world's needs for vegetable oils. Able to bear a much higher yield of oil per hectare of land used, conservationists are accusing palm oil growers of using methods of production that are anything but sustainable. Experts have placed palm oil's carbon footprint as being a close second to the much reviled tarsands oil from Canada.

In a multi-state action organized by consumer group, Palm Oil Consumers Action, online petitions have been created to demand that state governments and US Senators adopt a policy on state use of any products that contain palm oil. . The states were carefully selected from those which are already feeling the impacts of climate change like Kansas which is still reeling from drought and other states whose coastlines will be impacted when rising sea levels shrink the land mass in states like Florida, New York and California.

In his petition to Governor Kitzhaber of Oregon and Senators Merkley and Wyden, renowned primatologist and author J. Patrick Malone stated :

"Oregon's 2010 Global Warming Commission adopted an "Interim Roadmap to 2020," with recommendations addressing utilities, materials and waste management, transportation and land use, agriculture, forestry, and industry. The beneficial effects of these proactive measures are now unraveling at the hands of rogue members of the palm oil industry. "

The other petitions carried a similar message to their respective Senators and Governors and demand that policies similar to the ones adopted by the United Kingdom are put in place for the US.

The UK policy which was introduced in the fall of 2012 acknowledged that palm oil has a major impact on climate change, loss of biodiversity and a constant violator of human rights.

France and Germany made pledges in September 2013 to adopt similar laws and this was what inspired the American conservationists to launch their own campaign to push the US government to adopt similar policies.

On a consumer level, Rainforest Action Network of California launched its own campaign against twenty of the biggest snack makers in the US.

Calling it a Conflict Palm Oil campaign against the Snack Foods 20, a reference to twenty of the biggest brands of snacks in the US, RAN is accusing the brands of driving orangutan extinction, climate change and human rights violations.

Their campaign also takes issue with how the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil ( RSPO ) a certification body for sustainable palm oil, is allowing its credibility to be diluted with offsets and vague schemes for certifying sustainable palm oil.

This approach is consistent with a new smart phone app that was launched by the El Paso zoo recently. The zoo urges its users to completely boycott any products that contain palm oil, a stance which runs against the mainstream acceptance of RSPO product by other zoos in the US. In justifying its hard line stance against palm oil, the El Paso zoo calls out palm oil as a leading cause of deforestation in Malaysia and Indonesia, which produce over eighty percent of the world's palm oil supply and criticizes US brands for using palm oil where sustainability is neither tracked nor measured.

OF the fifty million tons of palm oil that is produced today, only about 15% of it is certified under sustainable labels. This has raised questions from groups whether a boycott by Americans would have any impact on palm oil's monstrous footprint on the environment.

"We can only influence our own government and fellow Americans," said Palm Oil Consumer Action spokes person LeAnn Fox. "The Chinese and Indian markets maybe the biggest users of palm oil but you can't really compare these markets to the US. The average salary for the Indian worker is less than $100 per month so we can't really expect them to pay a few more cents for sustainable product. Americans can afford to pay a few cents more for Kellogg's cereals and we refuse to support products that cause global warming which is already affecting so many American lives."

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/americans-take-action-against-palm-oil-331905.htm

Seattle, WA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 08/06/2013 -- Consumer groups Palm Oil Investigations of Australia (POI) and Palm Oil Consumers Action (POCA) of the US issued a joint statement against the green-washing that is prevalent among Western brands that use palm oil in their products.

The problem as they see it is confusing wording and suggestive statements used by companies to try and reassure their customers that the palm supply they use is sustainable. The main issue lies with the RSPO approval of a paper scheme for sustainable palm oil called Greenpalm certificates.

Greenpalm certificates which is operated by Book & Claim, UK was a scheme created by an RSPO member AAK as an option to support the production of sustainable palm oil when the RSPO was first created in 2004. At the time, it made sense for palm oil users to buy into the scheme to show their support of sustainable palm oil.

In the eight years since the RSPO was formed, some of its members have taken great strides to work according to its Principles and Criteria to produce physical sustainable palm oil. Producers including New Britain Palm Oil, Agropalma, Musim Mas and Sime Darby have consistently met those standards, which are one of the toughest for vegetable oil production.

Some of the same producers have been quoted in recent months that the use for Greenpalm Certificates is past its time. Nick Thompson, CEO of NBPOL was especially critical of Greenpalm Certificates in a statement made to Palm Oil Consumers Action group:

"Although we understand the theory behind Greenpalm certificate trading we have always thought that because the associated claim is so weak, the value to any buyer would be correspondingly low and therefore represent too little incentive to the growers. This is exactly what has been happening and they now pretty much represent the price you pay for doing nothing and turning a blind eye! The value of certificates is pathetically low and the fact that such a massive percentage of greenpalm certificates are being redeemed by a very small number of companies illustrates their lack of franchise in the market.

Most participants are now realising that mass balance is a much better way to go in that it allows critical players in a supply chain to understand just how close they are to being fully segregated. This means that when they get close to a "tipping point" (where the majority of the oil is actually CSPO), then its actually much easier for the supply chain to become fully segregated at very low cost. The costs of any segregation then really only apply when they have effectively become very small.

By contrast, rather than encouraging them, Greenpalm certificates just get in the way of traceable efficient and sustainable supply chains evolving in our opinion. That's what the end consumer eventually wants and so Greenpalm is now an obstacle to a more sustainable industry rather than an aide.

Multinational brands however, have been quick to jump on the opportunity to divert criticism with the use of this cheap alternative to physical sustainable palm oil. Costing at approximately $3 per ton for palm oil or $20 per ton for palm kernel oil, it's a cheap marketing alternative to physical sustainable palm oil which runs at many times that cost depending on the product.

The consumer groups have challenged several brands before on their claims to be "sourcing sustainable palm oil" with the use of Greenpalm Certificates.

Corporations including Unilever, Kellogg and Avon products clearly state on their websites that they are "sourcing sustainable palm oil" through the use of these certificates.

"To me, its greenwashing plain and simple" said LeAnn Fox from POCA. " How can they claim to be sourcing sustainable palm oil when Greenpalm's own website makes it very clear they can only claim to be supporting sustainable palm oil?"

The key difference in statements from what the consumers are seeing are simply the words " supporting" which Greenpalm users are allowed to claim and the brands use of the word " sourcing" which makes their statements look like intentional misinformation meant to confuse consumers.

The confusion can been seen in how American zoos are approaching the palm oil issue. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, previously very critical of anything to do with palm oil introduced a new app to identify best choices for brands using palm oil. These unfortunately contain mostly brands that use Greenpalm certificates. The Philadelphia zoo on the other hand was harsh on the certificates in their blog.

"The main issue is that, while companies are paying for the sustainable certificates, they are not actually addressing their own palm oil supply chains or creating a demand for sustainable palm oil that is traceable to the source. We have to be careful that GreenPalm certificates don't become a way to relieve companies of accountability"

Lorinda Jane from POI in Australia added further " If the RSPO is serious about becoming a credible label for sustainable palm oil, they have to drop Greenpalm certificates which most consumers consider a greenwash that does not address the serious problems in palm oil production."

The RSPO would be wise to listen to consumer's concerns. Uptake of their CSPO product has stagnated at 50% and this has led to discontent among its members.

The Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI) cancelled its membership with the RSPO in 2011 stating that in a thinly veiled criticism of the RSPO's reputation and credibility,

"The Indonesian palm oil industries can move forward and will have a better image in the eyes of the world"

Their counterpart in Malaysia, the Malaysian Palm Oil Board ( MPOA ) has made similar statements as rumours whirl around the creation of Malaysia's own sustainable label under Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) and if their members would leave the RSPO as well.

Outspoken director of the Malaysian Palm Oil Council, Yusof Basiron went a step further by saying "it's pointless to produce more palm oil certified by the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) if it could not even gain access into France."

Even their environmental founder WWF has been critical of what the RSPO actually means today and issued a scathing remark in its appraisal of the RSPO's certified products.

"It is unfortunately no longer possible for producers or users of palm oil to ensure that they are acting responsibly simply by producing or using Certified Sustainable Palm Oil."

In a move that was widely seen as lack of confidence in the RSPO, the WWF has joined a new group of palm oil producers, Palm Oil Innovation Group, whose members are showing their frustration with the slow progress at the RSPO.

"The matter is quite simple" said LeAnn Fox from POCA, " if we look at other certification bodies like the organic label or fair trade label, when you buy something that is organic or fairly traded, that's what it is. No one else has offsets like the RSPO where brands could say we couldn't find organic product so here's a conventional one and the offset we bought to make it organic."

Lorinda Jane from POI Australia states "Brands are taking advantage of the cheaper Greenpalm option and using it for long term supply, rather than making the vital switch to certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO). When brands di not demand CSPO and rely instead on Greenpalm. then palm oil companies are not going to produce it, it's that simple. Consumers are losing faith, the RSPO name is being used as nothing more than a marketing tool, no one knows if a brand is using certified palm oil or not, it's an absolute joke and a mess. RSPO needs to cease endorsing Greenpalm and cut ties if it's going to gain any kind of credibility for their certification process. The RSPO is currently doing themselves a great disservice and Australian consumers are wising up to it. We have not come across a single Australian brand that have not used the RSPO name in their palm oil greenwashing statements, yet we have only so far found a handful of brands that are in fact using certified palm oil."

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/consumer-groups-slam-greenwashing-in-sustainable-palm-oil-marketing-298490.htm

Seattle, WA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 05/27/2013 -- Palm Oil Consumers Action today launched its micro stock watch of American companies that use palm oil in their products.

Citing an increasing number of investment companies that are showing concern over the unsustainability issues behind palm oil cultivation, the group introduced the stock watch to better inform investors of the current policies of the companies listed in their stock watch.

US mainstays including Kelloggs, Starbucks and Avon Products are included in their list of companies.

"Smart investors are starting to realise that negative repercussions could come from consumers when they find out that companies in their portfolios may be using products that could cause global warming and wildlife extinctions" said POCA spokeswoman LeAnn Fox.

"We track the companies' progress on creating policies around their use of palm oil and rather than going to investment houses and updating them on developments and issues as we have been doing, we thought this micro stock watch would work better for everyone" she added.

Using their own symbols to match recommendations, POCA shows an orangutan for companies that they suggest as a "Buy", a Sumatran rhino as a " Hold" and a forest elephant as a "Sell".

Starbucks coffee(sbux),which the group recently engaged in a social media campaign, is shown as a "Buy" for its sustainability policies while Kellogg's( K ) is rated as a "Sell" for its lack of commitment to using sustainable palm oil for its American products. Others including General Mills( gis ) Dunkin Donuts( dnkn ) and Kraft ( krft ) are rated as "Hold" as the companies have issued public statements on using sustainable palm oil but have yet to issue official policies.

Canadian coffee house Tim Horton's ( thi ) which uses palm oil in its donuts but makes no mention of palm oil in its sustainability reports rated a "Sell" by POCA

Palm oil which is grown predominantly in Malaysia and Indonesia has been identified as a major contributor to green house gases which could be the cause of severe weather that has been hitting the US in recent years. This accusation has led the only certification body, the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil ( RSPO ) to adopt a green house gas emissions into its criteria in 2013.

RSPO certification has been criticised for being too generous and POCA which was invited to a globally attended debate recently, roundly criticised the RSPO and challenged it to earn its sustainable label.

" To use a tired cliche" continued LeAnn Fox " We are fast running out of natural resources. Companies that are working sustainably should be rewarded with more investments from investors who are concerned about the future and not just tomorrow's returns on their investments."

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/palm-oil/severe-weather/release-256724.htm